Another big development is that the king is now described as God's son. This is language that wasn't used of Saul. V14: 'I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son'. That's a verse that would be easy just to read without really grasping the significance of, but this is huge. It's the same

Did you notice the word that occurred 3 times in the chapter and twice in v16? 'Forever'. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne will be established forever. God is going to build David a house that death can't destroy, sin can't stop, and time can't bring to an end.It would be

David thinks it's high time to build God a permanent structure. The LORD responds in v7 by saying that he had never asked any of the leaders of the people to build him a temple. What we do in the worship of God must be done at his initiative. It's not that God is against the idea of a temple.

This is actually one of the most significant chapters in the whole Bible. It's one where God's great plan of salvation takes a huge step forward. In the first verse of the New Testament, Jesus is introduced as 'the son of David, the son of Abraham'. Well this chapter points us from the time of David back to the time

How does David respond to Michal? Do you notice how his answer in v21 starts and ends? It starts and ends with the phrase 'before the LORD'. In other words - I'm not doing it for you - I'm doing it for God. What matters to me isn't your verdict, but God's. What other people think of us isn't completely

Michal is unenthusiastic about David's enthusiasm, and it begins in her heart. Look at v16. What identifies Michal with the spirit of Saul is firstly seen only to God. She looked out the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart. The crowd could have looked up and seen her

In this chapter, Michal, is described three times as the 'daughter of Saul'. It's telling us: 'Like father, like daughter'. That ancient conflict between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent that's played out across the pages of history, is being played out in front of us in this chapter. Where Michal really stands is seen

How does David react to all of this? Well he reacts wrongly, v8. He's angry, and he's afraid of God. Not a right fear of God - which is a fear of grieving him - but a terror that meant he gave the whole thing up.Yet what happens? v11: The ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-Edom

We read this chapter, and we don't want Uzzah to die. But if only people had listened to God, this need not have happened. God doesn't leave his worship up to us to do as we think best. He sets out in exact detail what he requires. God had laid down clear regulations about how the ark was to be

In this chapter we see what's most important to David. Last week we saw him enthroned as king. This week we see that one of his big priorities after that is worship. Worship hadn’t been a priority in the days of Saul. In 1st Chronicles 13 David gathers the leaders of the people and says 'let us bring again the