“The Enduring Covenant of God”

1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-15

September 17, 2006

For the last six weeks, we have taken a journey through some of the significant moments in the life and time of King David. We have been with him during the good times and the bad. We have been with him when he was just a shepherd boy, and saw how he was anointed by God to be the king of Israel. We have been with him as he stood fast in the face of overwhelming odds and relied on the provision and providence of God during his battle with Goliath. We have been with him as he rose to power to sit on the throne over a united Israel, and carried the ark of God into Jerusalem. And we have been with him as he heard the words of God declaring that God would establish a covenant with him and make his name great and his generations into the house of the Lord.

But we have also been with him during some not so good time, even one of the darkest times of his life. We have been with him as he did not fully grasp the significance of God’s presence when he carried the ark into Jerusalem, and treated the ark of God as a political showpiece to bring legitimacy to his kingdom. We have been with him as he sank deep into the mire of seduction and desire, and feel prey to the temptation of absolute power and authority. And we have been with him when he was exposed for his sin and transgression against the Lord, and we have felt his sorrow for the deadly consequences of his unfaithful actions.

With our text for today, the story of the life and time of King David comes to an end, but not his legacy. We know that after the dreadful incident with Bathsheba and Uriah, David’s life was not as it should have been. His life was filled with one problem after another, and as promised, the sword never left his house. His son would conspire against him to take over the throne leaving David to flee from Jerusalem to save his life. Others would conspire to have him killed. And he would suffer the loss of yet another son. But his life also ended with a restored sense of God’s presence. He would reclaim the throne as king, he would once again serve in battle with his people defending his people with all the vigor of youth, but now with the wisdom of years, and he would sing a song of thanksgiving for the sovereign, majestic, redemptive presence and power of God.

But how does God see king David? How does God feel about king David? In the end, does God think of David like God thinks of Saul, sorry that God made him king? With the death of King David, the story of one of the most important figures of God’s people comes to an end. But where one person’s story ends, another begins, and so the full story of God’s people continues to be transformed and reshaped by God’s eternal presence. And so it would be with David’s son, Solomon.

Solomon, like his father, had all the intuitions of a great political figure, and the cunning diplomacy of a great leader. And like his father, Solomon would also have to content with the temptations of absolute power and the extravagance of being king. And like his father, Solomon would also fall prey to these same temptations, suffering the consequences of his unfaithfulness, and yet in the end would be remembered as another important king in Israel’s history.

But our text for today, in context of our sermon series, is less about Solomon than it is about David. In this text, God says something about David that is incredibly amazing. God says to Solomon, “If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will strengthen your life.” How incredible is this declaration? For all that David was as a human being, warts and all, and all that David was as king of Israel, the good, bad, and the ugly, in the end the enduring covenant of God for his life remains steadfast and true, the same enduring covenant now promised to Solomon.

In the end, God still proclaims about David that David is one who walked in God’s ways, and who kept God’s statutes and commandments. After all that David did and did not do, for all the times that David got it right and got it wrong, for all the times that David was faithful and unfaithful, in the end, God still declares that David walked in the way of the Lord. And we can leave the story of David with the wisdom and knowledge that God’s enduring covenant, God’s enduring commitment and faithfulness to David and to God’s people is still intact.

Maybe in the end, the story of David is really a story about ourselves. Maybe in the end, the story of David is a story about our own life, a story about the times when we too soar high upon the wings of God, feeling the awesome power of God’s presence and strength, feeling that nothing could keep us from God’s grip, knowing with all conviction God’s providence and provision in our life, knowing that we are so bound to God that we cannot even declare it through the limitation of words.

But it is also a story about our not so good times as well, even a story about the darkest moments of our own life, a story about the times when we fail to understand, fail to grasp the significance of God’s almighty presence and just use God for our own self-interests, a story about the times when we too fall prey to the temptations of human power and human desire, and the deadly consequences of chaos and death that we can cause in our own life and in the life of others, a story about the times when we too are confronted and exposed for our unfaithfulness and brokenness before God.

And yet, maybe in the end, this story of David, as much as it is a story about us, is first and foremost a story about God. Here we see the incredible good news of God’s enduring and steadfast love, grace, and mercy of God for God’s people. Here we see and experience the awesome reality that in God’s eyes, we are still beloved children, regardless of our warts, regardless of the good and the bad and the ugly times of our lives, regardless of the ways in which we live up to God’s expectations and fall short of God’s glory.

How amazing is it that God would choose to be in relationship with us? How amazing is it that in the end, God still calls us good just as God did at the time of creation? How amazing is it that in the end, it is God who does for us what we cannot do for ourselves, even going to the depths and darkness of the cross for our sakes, to finally and fully bind us together in a relationship that cannot be broken?

Maybe in the end, this story about David is really a story about the faithfulness and the enduring covenant of God, the faithfulness of God which declares that even when we are not always faithful to God, God will always be faithful to us, never departing from us, but always remaining present with us, and the enduring covenant of God which declares even when we do not hold up our end of the covenant, God’s enduring commitment and faithfulness to us and to all of God’s people is still intact. God will remain true to God’s promise, the promise that we belong to God, that God will continue to bless us, and that God will always be more than just a promise maker, but that in fact God was, is, and will always be the faithful promise keeper.

As we leave the story of the life and time of King David, we leave carrying with us the tapestry of several important theological threads that have been woven together: God’s sovereignty and absolute power and authority, God’s awesome presence and provision, our own faithfulness and obedience to God, our own temptations of human power and human desire, and our need for repentance. But we also leave carrying with us in this tapestry the golden thread that runs throughout the story in the Bible and in our lives, the golden thread that is the enduring covenant of God to and for God’s people. For it is the enduring covenant of God which not only makes our life with God a blessing, but which also becomes for us the enduring word of hope we hold onto through our faith in God’s reconciling and redemptive work through Jesus Christ. Amen.