Especially this time of year, it’s easy for us to get caught up in all the work of the Church – and there is a lot to do. From building programs to organizing mission trips to working in soup kitchens to recruiting Sunday School teachers, there’s always something else that needs to be done. But today’s passage would have us put all these things in perspective.

David wanted to do something great for God – to build Him a Temple in Jerusalem. But God had even bigger ideas, not about what David could do for Him, but about what He could do for David and for His people. In verse 9, God promises His people a safe place to live. They were already living in the Promised Land, but were still surrounded by their enemies. So in verse 10, God promised to put an end to all such opposition to His righteous rule.

And how would God do all this? Not by having David build a house, a Temple for Him, but by building a house, a dynasty for David. God would allow David and his descendants to rule in Jerusalem for around 400 years, about the same stretch of time between the settlement of Jamestown and the present – in fact, David’s dynasty lasted a lot longer than the Temple that his son Solomon built. And many of those kings were quite effective in defeating the enemies of their people.

But most importantly, the Son of David, Jesus the Messiah, continues to reign, not just over a small country in the Middle East, but over the whole world. By His cross, He has destroyed the power of sin over us. By His empty tomb, He has destroyed the power of death over us. Those who trust in Jesus as Savior and bow the knee to Him as Lord just can’t be any more secure in the face of our enemies.

And that means that, no matter how many great things we try to do for God, the most important thing is just telling the good news about the great things God has done for us in Jesus Christ. Let’s rest in the work of Christ as we glorify Him with our lips and our lives today.

I Chronicles 17:7-10 (NAS)

7 “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, that you should be leader over My people Israel.
8 “And I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a name like the name of the great ones who are in the earth.
9 “And I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place and be moved no more; neither shall the wicked waste them anymore as formerly,
10 even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel. And I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover, I tell you that the LORD will build a house for you.