Bible Passage: 2 Samuel 7:18-22
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: November 26, 2025

Bulletin – November 23, 2025

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

You have all heard it said, or maybe even said it yourself:  “Why me?”  The common association with saying such a thing looks like this – a person is sitting alone, frustrated, demoralized.  Their world is coming undone.  Everything is going wrong.  Their face is in their hands.  They are at wits’ end.  The only words that come are these, “Why me?”  Can you relate?

In our text tonight, as we gather to give thanks, we have a man who pretty much is saying, “Why me?”  It is King David.  But as we look at David’s situation at the time of our text, David is not saying these words because everything in his life is going so terribly.  He says them because everything is going so well!  David is feeling very thankful, very blessed, very overwhelmed by the goodness of God.  And that is why a grateful David says, Why Me?

Why is David so grateful at this point in his life?  Let’s fill in some detail. At this point, David is firmly established as king of Israel.  He has had military success.  He has fame.  He has secured the city of Jerusalem as his capital city.  He has completed building his palace.  He has even brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem.  The first verse of the chapter from which our text is taken says, …the king was settled in his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him. (2 Samuel 7:1)  These were good days for David!.

And it’s at this point that David has an idea.  He wants to build a house, a temple, in Jerusalem for the LORD God.  But the LORD sends the prophet Nathan to David to tell him to hold off.  The LORD’s message to David is, “I don’t want you to build a house for me.  But I want to build a house for you!”  Nathan told David, The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you…Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever. (2 Samuel 7:11, 16)  That forever-kingdom would be fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  The angel Gabriel told Mary this about the child she would have:  The LORD God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end. (Luke 1:32)

It is after Nathan’s visit that our text begins.  Then King David went in and sat before the LORD. (v. 18)  David may literally have gone to the tent he had set up especially for the Ark of the Covenant and just sat down in front of the Ark of the Covenant.  He kind of “went to church.”  And as he reflected on things he prayed,  Who am I, Sovereign LORD, and who is my family, that you have brought me thus far (v. 18)  David basically said, “Why me?  Why is the LORD treating me and my family this way?  Why is the LORD being so good to ME?”  And let’s not miss the most important thing David says.  He says to the LORD, You have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant. (v. 19)  David can’t believe he gets the fame and palace and the riches and all of that.  But what really gets David is the future blessing. “I get all of this…and a Savior too!”

You have sat down in the presence of the LORD tonight.  As you sit here, has the thought run across your mind, “Why me?  Why has the LORD brought me thus far?  Look at my house.  My house today is nicer than David’s palace!  David never had air-conditioning!  It’s more than I need.  Look at my stuff.  It’s more than I need.  Look at my closet of clothes.  It’s more than I need.  Look at the food in my fridge and freezer and cupboards.  It’s more than I need.  Look at my car.  It’s more than I need.  Look at my bank account.  It’s more than I need.  Why me?  Why did the LORD bless me with all of this?  And if all of this isn’t enough, I get Jesus, too!  The LORD has given me a Savior and forgiveness of ALL of my sins.  The LORD has delivered me from the accusations of the devil.  The LORD has given me victory over death.  The LORD has given me a future! An eternal home in his presence, not just sitting next to the Ark of the Covenant in a tent or sitting before an altar in a church, but literally next to the risen Jesus forever!  Why me?  Am I more worthy than any other person on this planet?  In many ways, I am less!  Why me?”

As David sits before the LORD and talks to him, he answers his question.  Literally, he says to the LORD, For the sake of your Word and according to your heart you have done this…(v. 21)   “According to your heart.”  The LORD was just doing what was in his heart.  God loved David.  God is love. (1 John 4:8) He loves this world!  God loves people in this world!  Like David.  Like you.  Like me.  God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. (John 3:16)  We cannot understand this love!  We cannot comprehend this love!  We cannot explain this love.  This inexplicable love for David, for you, for me, for this world is so in a class by itself, it needs its own word – GRACE.  Grace is why the LORD God singled David out and gave him a strong army, and a nice palace, and a Savior.  Grace is why the Lord has given you a nice house, and a big turkey dinner, and a Savior.  I bet David would approve of the way Dr. Luther explained why God is so good to us:  “All this God does only because he is my good and merciful Father in heaven, and not because I have earned or deserved it.”  Grace.

I bet he would approve of the next thing Luther said, too.  “For all this I ought to thank and praise, to serve and obey him.  This is most certainly true!”  God’s grateful people don’t just sit in quiet contemplation once a year.  We are busy people.  We are active people.  Busy and active loving and serving…other people.  We do not hoard the blessings of God.  We use the good and many gifts the LORD has so graciously given us to show love to our neighbor.  We especially do not hoard the blessing of a Savior.  This is the blessing we are most eager to share with others!

When we sit with David, and reflect with David, we can only conclude with David:  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.  (v. 22)

Amen.