1 Kings 8: All Have Sinned

“When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to his own land, far away or near; and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their conquerors and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly’; and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward the land you gave their fathers, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name; then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause. And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you, and cause their conquerors to show them mercy; - 1 Kings 8:46-50 NIV

Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived knew man's heart.  He knew how easily the heart is taken captive, how easily it is stolen.  There is something so captivating about sin.  It creeps up on us, it belongs to someone else, it looks so alluring, even safe.  Then it traps us.  The enemy winds the tendrils of everything that was so attractive around us and binds us so tightly we cannot escape.  The enemy will never let go of us willingly, but we do have a recourse.  All we have to do is confess our sins, prostrate ourselves on the rock of our salvation, and we will be saved.   God will rescue us from the power of our oppressor, he will free us from the enemy's grasp.  The enemy may not be forgiving, but our God most surely is.

2 Samuel 14: Not Estranged Forever

Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him.  - 2 Sam. 14:14 NIV.

Estrangement is a terrible thing...to be cut off from one you once loved or still love, to have a mountain of misunderstanding, a gulf of careless, inconsiderate actions, separating you from the one you long for.  Someone must make the first move to bridge the great divide, but usually both parties suffer in silence, anger, and recriminations, waiting for the other to bend first.  Such is not the case with God.  He does not harbor resentment for our actions against him.  Rather, he seeks us out, he still offers a relationship, he begs, he pleads, he cajoles us, he woos us as if we were his only love.  He arranges circumstances until we at last are forced to turn and look at him, where all we see is the face of love.  No matter what Absalom had done, David grieved for him until they were once more u tied.  The same is true of God.  He has infinite patience when it comes to waiting for us.  All the while, he will not be waiting silently, but will be arranging events so we will not be estranged from him forever.

2 Samuel 7: Do As You Promised

Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said: “Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in your sight, O Sovereign LORD, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant. Is this your usual way of dealing with man, O Sovereign LORD?
"What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Sovereign LORD. For the sake of your word and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made it known to your servant.
“How great you are, O Sovereign LORD! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. And who is like your people Israel—the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations and their gods from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt? You have established your people Israel as your very own forever, and you, O LORD, have become their God.
"And now, LORD God, keep forever the promise you have made concerning your servant and his house. Do as you promised, so that your name will be great forever. Then men will say, ‘The LORD Almighty is God over Israel!’ And the house of your servant David will be established before you. - 2 Sam. 7:18-26 NIV

"Who am I?" David asks, and those few words show the relationship between David and the Lord God.  "There is none like you", he cries.  'Everything is done through your power, not our own.  Every great and awesome wonder comes from your hand and yours alone.'

Is it any wonder that God chose the line of David for the ancestry of the Messiah, that God's own son's earthly lineage would come from David.  "Do as you promised", David says, "So that your name will be great forever."   David didn't say, "So that my name will be great forever," but, so that God's name would be great forever.  I think that sometimes all of our prayers, that God will use us, are to no avail simply because, if we're really truthful, we're seeking the glory for ourselves rather than for God.  God's promises are always fulfilled, but they're for his glory and his glory alone.