Thanks to my daughter Rebekah for this great word
“You want to build me a house? Forget it—I’m going to build you a house. The kingdom that I’m shaping here isn’t what you do for me but what I do through you. I’m doing the building here, not you. I’m not going to let you confuse things by launching a building operation of your own. If I let you fill Jerusalem with the sights and sounds of your building project—carpenters’ hammers, masons’ chisels, teamsters’ shouts— before long everyone will be caught up in what you are doing, and not attentive to what I am doing. This is a kingdom that we’re dealing with, and I am the king. I’ve gotten along without a so-called house for a long time now. Where did you ever come up with the idea that I need or want a house? If there’s any building to be done, I’m doing it. I’ve been working with you since your shepherd days, building a kingdom—a place where salvation and justice and peace can be realized. That’s what you’re here: to give visibility and representation to what I’m doing, not call attention to what you’re doing. We’ve just had one failure like that in Saul, and we’re not going to have another. There will come a time when it’s appropriate to build something like you have in mind—your son, in fact, will do it—but this isn’t the time. First we have to get the concept of my sovereignty established in the people’s imagination and practice, your kingship a witness to my kingship, not an obscuring of it. That’s the house I’m building—your kingship as witness and representation of my sovereignty. First things first” (2 Sam. 7:14-17 Message).
“You want to build me a house? Forget it—I’m going to build you a house. The kingdom that I’m shaping here isn’t what you do for me but what I do through you. I’m doing the building here, not you. I’m not going to let you confuse things by launching a building operation of your own. If I let you fill Jerusalem with the sights and sounds of your building project—carpenters’ hammers, masons’ chisels, teamsters’ shouts— before long everyone will be caught up in what you are doing, and not attentive to what I am doing. This is a kingdom that we’re dealing with, and I am the king. I’ve gotten along without a so-called house for a long time now. Where did you ever come up with the idea that I need or want a house? If there’s any building to be done, I’m doing it. I’ve been working with you since your shepherd days, building a kingdom—a place where salvation and justice and peace can be realized. That’s what you’re here: to give visibility and representation to what I’m doing, not call attention to what you’re doing. We’ve just had one failure like that in Saul, and we’re not going to have another. There will come a time when it’s appropriate to build something like you have in mind—your son, in fact, will do it—but this isn’t the time. First we have to get the concept of my sovereignty established in the people’s imagination and practice, your kingship a witness to my kingship, not an obscuring of it. That’s the house I’m building—your kingship as witness and representation of my sovereignty. First things first” (2 Sam. 7:14-17 Message).
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