The Lord will build you a house.

At the beginning of the summer, I shared my deep yearning to be able to "set down some roots" and call some place home both physically and emotionally.  Now it's the end of the summer, and though the desire is still there, a kind of peace has drifted its way into my heart even though my physical transitions have gotten a little crazier.

Now I've never been one to do an awesome or proper exegesis of a passage, so if I'm being heretical, please let me know.

But I wanted to share some thoughts on a portion of 1 Chronicles that I really identified with as I was reading this morning.  I thought it was interesting, too, because I was reading a passage to catch up to my scheduled daily readings, so technically, I was supposed to have read this a few weeks ago.  But it seemed to be a rather appropriate nourishment I needed for today:

1 Chronicles 17:1-15 (ESV) [emphasis added by me]:

Now when David lived in his house, David said to Nathan the prophet, "Behold, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under a tent."  And Nathan said to David, "Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you."

But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, "Go and tell my servant David, 'Thus says the LORD:  It is not you who will build me a house to dwell in.  For I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up Israel to this day, but I have gone from tent to tent and from dwelling to dwelling.  In all places where I have moved with all Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people, saying, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?"' Now, therefore, thus shall you say to my servant David, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be prince over my people Israel, and I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you.  And I will make for you a name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.  And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more.  And violent men shall waste them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel.  And I will subdue all your enemies.  Moreover, I declare to you that the LORD will build you a house.  When yours days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.  He shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever.  I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.  I will not take my steadfast love from him, as I took it from him who was before you, but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever."'  In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

The Lord reminds David that He has been on the one leading the pack.  He has been "on the move," ever since He delivered Israel out of Egypt, and not once has He commanded His leaders to set down roots.  With this I was reminded that even though I feel like I've been on the move in a way as well, I haven't been arbitrarily going from place to place.  I have been going where I believe God has been leading me, and He hasn't exactly set up shop at the most ideal times or places.

The Lord also reminds David where He brought David out from, as a mere shepherd boy whom He transformed to become a leader for His people.  Here I was reminded of who I used to be just a mere four years ago as a freshman girl in college, and how He changed who I was as He appointed me to be a leader for my brothers and sisters and as an agent of change for those around me, and now as an InterVarsity campus staff worker.

As He also reminds David, the Lord has been with me wherever I have gone, whether it's been on mountaintops or through valleys, He has cut off all my enemies before me.  He hasn't promised to give all the answers or tell us what's happening next, but He has fulfilled His promise to be there with us when it happened.

At first when I read, "the LORD will build you a house," I thought, "Awesome!  That's comforting.  Maybe that means the LORD is saying to me, 'Don't worry, Tammy, you may be on the move for a while, but soon enough I'll prepare and create a place for you to settle down and really feel at home.  You just have to hold on and work through this period of constant moving and quick transitions to get there."

But then I thought about who God was talking to and realized, "Wait a second.  They said at the beginning of this passage that David already had a cedar house.  Why would God build him a new one?  That doesn't make any sense."

And when I looked at what followed the declaration, "the LORD will build you a house," I saw that God probably wasn't talking about a physical house.  God describes all that He'll be and do with David's offspring and his kingdom.  He doesn't promise David that he'll be able to establish God's house, but instead promises never to leave those who will come after him, and that the one whose David's legacy is rooted in God will not be in vain.

It sounds like God built David a different kind of house - a legacy of family whose roots are grounded in the foundation of God.

Should I take this literally and apply it directly to myself and say that God promises to establish my family as my house, that He promises not to take His steadfast love away from my children and that they will establish the LORD's house?  Or maybe stretch that further to mean not literally my offspring but instead the fruit of those lives He'll touch as I follow Him faithfully?

I don't know, but I know God isn't promising me a life of setting down roots in a physical location or attaching my heart to whoever I encounter or wherever I go.  I may always be on the move physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually in some way, shape, or form.

It's a little unnerving to think about.

But I'm reminded of His presence no matter what kind of time or place I've been in, and I've seen Him do wonders through me as He chooses me to lead His people in various ways, not because of my ability but because of how He works in me.  I am confident He'll still be there wherever I may move next.

For now, though, I probably should have gone to sleep a long time ago.  It's 2am and I've been sitting here writing this post instead of packing my clothes.  Oh well.