busyness isn't betterness ...

I am currently doing Kay Arthur's Covenant Bible study. On day 3 of week 6, she talks about how the Israelites were supposed to construct a tabernacle according to the exact pattern and design that God showed them. They then were to build the Ark of the Covenant, and the mercy seat to go on top, which is where God would come to meet with and speak to them. As I read that, it occurred to me that if they did not follow His instructions exactly, then they would not have had a place in which God was willing to meet with them.

She also mentions how God would lead His people from a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. They could not move on from a place unless the pillar went first. To travel apart from the cloud or fire was to travel apart from the will, and the presence, of God.

Day 4 goes on to talk about the Davidic Covenant, focusing on 2 Samuel 7: 1-18. After years of war, the Lord finally gives David rest from the attacks of his enemies. David immediately comes up with a plan to fill his new-found free time by building a permanent house for the Ark of the Covenant. The prophet Nathan gives David his seal of approval, but then God says, “Hold up. I never asked anyone to do that.”

Why do we feel the need to come up with things to do for God? No matter how noble, we don’t need to fill our time doing things God never told us to do. Because he had a time of rest, David wanted to do something for God, but that was not David’s job. “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel.” That is all that God required of David.

In fact, it was God who wanted to build a house for David (v. 11). When David realized this, he “went in and sat before the Lord.”

God was focused on all the things that He was going to do for David in the future, and simply wanted David to be in His presence. It’s okay for us to revel in the rest that God gives us … to simply enjoy His presence instead of always striving for bigger and better things.

As evidenced by Nathan’s response and the subsequent reproof, just because something is good doesn’t make it right. We need to know who we are and what we are called to, and stick to that. More than anything, God’s wants us to be in His presence now. But that requires careful attention to the instructions that He gives us, patience to not move ahead of His direction, and contentment to rest where He has placed us.