The times I have been tempted to give in to despair and quit and surrender is when I think, “This is so hard. God is not in this. I’m all by myself.”

Have you ever wondered why the Messiah needs a forerunner? When you just show up without warning people are surprised, shocked, and not receptive.

Christmas is the critical point in time when the future promises of God become present reality. But if you don’t realise how significant something is, you’re likely to lose it.

David got himself into an unsolvable mess. His solution is familiar to all of us: run away from God and avoid Him. If I face God in my sin He’ll kill me.

But this chapter is not about God killing David in justice. It’s about God restoring David in grace.

Gross sin starts small, but significantly, when a heart turns away from being satisfied by God, looks somewhere else for satisfaction and, worst of all, finds it.

Today we see the ultimate rags-to-riches story. A man expects to die, instead inherits, returns from exile, and becomes a close associate of the king.

The unexpected becomes reality not because of anything in the man, but because of a covenant made before he was born.

David wanted to build God an exalted temple for God’s own glory, and God said, “No. You are not the guy.”

Can you imagine David’s reaction?

If anything is to be permanent in your life, God is the one who has to build it.

Here’s a situation where David is bringing the presence of God into the very centre of Israeli life but when God reacts to his ignorance he is shocked, angry, fearful, unwilling, just like an unbeliever.