Isn’t humility a confusing thing? We can give everything we have to serve and glorify the Lord, only to find that we were only doing it for the reputation of a great Christian. We can get so humble that we imagine God is lucky to have us on his team. We can get so pious that the piety itself becomes our idol. It’s a frustrating paradox indeed! Is there any way for us to actually do things right?
King David found himself in the same predicament. As the so-called man after God’s own heart and leader of the Lord’s holy nation, he took it upon himself to build a temple for the Lord in Jerusalem. Sounds like an honorable idea, right? But underneath that layer, David sought a bit of his own glory, because a king who built an architectural masterpiece was a king who established a legacy of greatness. Funnily enough, none of our ulterior motives ever seem to get past God. And God’s answer is striking: “rather than you building me a house and being glorified, I will build you a house, and I will be glorified.” All glory belongs to God, and one of the infinitely many reasons is because he gives all blessings to us.
What David encounters is an entirely new model of worship. It’s the way of the wayward world to think we have to do great things to earn God’s favor and blessings—I do something for God, God says thank you. But God stops David in his tracks and flips the script—God does something for David, David simply says thank you! After the Lord makes this promise, David prays a prayer of quiet, humble, grateful, worshipful awe. Because the true heart of worship is rooted not in great works, but in overflowing awe at God’s glory and gratitude for his goodness.
On no merit of his own, David found his legacy established. His son Solomon built the temple, his line was preserved on the throne, and his kingdom still continues forever through his descendant, the eternally-reigning perfect king Jesus. And he was a worshipful king, simply because in light of how much God loved and blessed him, how could he not be? This is how we worship as well. We are citizens of the kingdom of David’s offspring, and our worship is an outpouring of gratitude for all the wonderful things God has done.
