2 Samuel 7:1-14a
Have you ever noticed how easily we make – and break – promises? For instance, we say, “I’ll be there in five minutes,” knowing full well that it will take us at least 15 minutes. We promise, “We’ll keep in touch,” when we both are aware that we might write once or twice or call a couple of times, but then we’ll get caught up in our lives and forget about that pledge. We say, “I won’t tell anyone,” but we’re already listing in our heads the people we can’t wait to shock with the news. We look a child straight in the eye and say, “This won’t hurt a bit,” when we all know that’s a lie.
Perhaps we are shaped so much by the culture around us, we don’t even realize that we are making promises that we will never keep. After all, the advertising industry does it all the time! And what about politicians? I looked on the Internet, and there are websites devoted to specific politicians and how they have broken promises made to their constituents.
I found it interesting to consider how many U.S. presidents have broken their campaign promises. In 1916 Woodrow Wilson campaigned on the slogan, “He kept us out of war.” But just 29 days after being sworn in for a second term, he asked Congress to declare war against Germany. In 1928 Herbert Hoover was proclaiming prosperity for everyone, promising a chicken in every pot and a car in every backyard. Less than eight months after he took office, the bottom fell out of the stock market and the country entered the Great Depression. In 1940, Franklin Roosevelt promised, “Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars.” But after December 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, he asked for, and got, declarations of war against Japan and Germany. In 1964 Lyndon Johnson promised, “We are not about to send American boys 9 or 10 thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.” But he soon sent troops to Vietnam and escalated the war several times during his presidency. In 1968 Richard Nixon promised to make peace with honor in Vietnam, but the war dragged on and the last troops were not withdrawn until 1975, after Nixon had left office. In 1976 Jimmy Carter promised to solve the energy crisis by increasing the gas tax and deregulating the gas and oil industry. However, without support from Congress, his initiatives got nowhere and the energy crisis got worse. In 1980 Ronald Reagan pledged to pass a constitutional amendment allowing voluntary prayer in public schools, but his proposal died in Congress. In 1988 George H. W. Bush famously promised, “Read my lips: No new taxes.” But in 1990 he was forced to admit that increased in taxes were necessary after all. In 1992 Bill Clinton campaigned on the promise to initiate a complete overhaul of the healthcare system and offer universal healthcare to all Americans; this proposal died in Congress. In 2000 George W. Bush promised to reduce government spending and bring American troops home from being scattered all around the world; but after 9/11 government spending skyrocketed due to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2008 Barack Obama promised to work to close the partisan divide in Washington, D.C., but when he left office the divide was worse than when he came in. And Donald Trump made promises to repeal Obamacare, build the border wall, and put Hillary Clinton in prison, none of which he was able to keep.
Our government has been guilty of breaking promises, none so heinous as the promises broken over and over again that were made to Native Americans. Native peoples were driven off of their ancestral homelands onto reservations that were promised to be theirs forever; later those treaties were often revoked and white settlers were allowed to come onto those reservations, or the Native peoples were relocated to other sites that were less desirable.
Is it any wonder that we are skeptical when it comes to believing promises that are made to us? Isn’t it just a natural reflex to doubt what people will really do when they make promises to us? And can’t we all understand why it is so hard to take someone at their word, to trust what they say, to believe that they will do what they say they will do? And sometimes that lack of trust even spills over into our relationship with God.
This passage from 2 Samuel has to do with some promises that God made to King David. David had settled in Jerusalem. He had defeated all of his enemies and things were peaceful. He had built a nice palace for himself to live in. He had brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem and placed it in a special tent. But he began to feel guilty that the Ark of God was just a tent while he was living in some degree of splendor. So he consulted the prophet Nathan.
At first Nathan seemed to encourage David to go ahead with his plan to build a house for God, a temple where the Ark could be placed. But then God gave Nathan a message for David that involved promises about the future home of the Ark and about the future of David’s dynasty. Both promises involved a “house” – the Hebrew word is the same for both, bayith – the house where the Ark would be placed, or the Temple; and the house of David, or the dynasty of David.
Regarding the Temple: David was not given permission to build the Temple. No explanation was given for that here, but in 1 Chronicles 22:8 it says that David was prevented from building the Temple because he was a man of warfare and bloodshed. Instead, God promised that David’s son would build the Temple. We know that the son who built that Temple was Solomon.
Regarding the Dynasty: God promised that David’s family would remain on the throne, not just for a while, but forever. In fact, David’s descendants did stay in power for about 400 years; but when you take into consideration the fact that Jesus, the Messiah, was a descendant of David, then the “forever” part rings true, because Jesus is King forever.
These promises that God made to David assured the stability of the kingdom. There would be a Temple in which the Ark would be placed, and God’s presence would dwell there. God would be present in Jerusalem, with the people, with the king. That was a powerful symbol and a reassurance to David, and to all of Israel. And there would be stability in the leadership of the nation. That could ensure peace and a degree of prosperity for the people, as long as they kept to the covenant with God made at Sinai. Of course, we know that they were not always faithful in the promises that they made to God in that covenant. But God was faithful to the promises he had made to them.
What promises has God made in your life? Has God been faithful to them? Has God kept his word to you? Does that lead you to trust God even more with your future?
Knowing that God has been faithful in the past gives me the assurance that I can trust God in the future. I can believe God’s promises to me because God has kept his promises to me that were made in the past. God promises to be with me, and God is with me. God promises to love me, and God does love me. God promises to forgive me, and God does forgive me. And I know that God keeps the promises he has made to you.
Hold on to those promises. Trust in them. Trust in the God who made them. Because God’s promises will not fail. God will keep his word. God’s promises are promises that you can count on.
