“WHO AM I, O LORD GOD?” Christadelphian thoughts based on the daily readings for 22nd July 2016
Do you ever ask yourself this question? In our reading in 2 Samuel Ch. 7, we read how David did! When we ask ourselves this question – is it the Bible that prompts us to do so? Those who do not know or read the Bible – if they ask, ‘Who am I?’ – conclude they are but the highest form of an evolved animal and agree, as Paul wrote, “If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” [1 Cor. 15 v.32 – but then they should read the following verses, especially v.42!]
It is vital to understand why David asked this question – “Who am I, O LORD God?”
[v.18]
David had been very successful and “the LORD had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies”
[v.1]
So David, in his heart, started to think of what he could do for God – which shows he was developing a real conception of what God must be – this surely began from the time he was a shepherd boy watching over the sheep by night and meditating on the “heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place” which leads him to ask, “what is man that you are mindful of him?” [Psa.8 v.3,4]
In developing his answer he writes, “you have given him dominion over the works of your hands”
[v.6]
And what are human beings doing today with that “dominion”? What a mess they are making! But let’s come back to ourselves – each one of us must ask ourselves – Who am I?
David’s question to himself arose because God had sent Nathan the prophet to him telling him, “Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever”
[v.16]
. The vision of this overwhelmed David, especially its reference to a particular son and that God “will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”
[v.13]
Coming back to our own need to ask this question – what of the promises made to all those who claim a relationship with that particular son? In claiming a relationship, have we ourselves, asked in prayer?
“Who am I, O LORD God?” Have we felt overwhelmed, as David was, by the vision of what is to come? But if we reject that vision as unreal – we cannot leave it at that – we have to ask ourselves – what is real?
No fiction writer could have invented the character and words of Jesus we have been reading in Matthew. Let us “enlarge” our hearts, as David did his.
David wrote, “I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart!” [Psa. 119 v.32] We, like David, need to really enlarge our heart, the perceptions of our mind, so that we can more fully serve our Lord. That service is founded upon the reality of the perceptions we have developed in our heart, our ability to “see” the unseen. Surely that should be one of things we are praying for most of all? So we ask, ““Who am I, O LORD God?” We do! Wonderful! Are you satisfied, maybe, overwhelmed, by the answers you are getting?
By Bro D.Caudery
