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December 3 
2 Samuel 7: 12-16
12 When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. 15 But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul,whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’”
Do you remember the old wooden school desks? Often if you opened the lid, you could find carved or inked, the name of those who had previously sat at that desk. I can remember as a child being thrilled when I realised that I sat where one of the big girls I looked up to had sat, and also wondering about some of the names I didn’t recognise, wondering how old they were now, what they were doing. We all like to make our mark, don’t we?
I suspect that the boy David had few ambitions about the mark he would leave on the world. The youngest son, a skinny youth, fit for delivering his brothers lunch. We know the story of how he rose from obscurity through faithfulness and in spite of huge errors of judgement along the way. Ultimately, God had his eye on this man and promised that in time the Kingdom of God would be ushered in by one of his descendants. God placed that man, from humble origin, right at the heart of the salvation of the world.
David made his mark, in spite of his flaws, and was used by God in ways he could never have imagined. God tells us our names are written in the Book of Life – not by our own efforts but by the author and sustainer of life – our mark is made, not by us, but by the grace of God. |