Readings: Psalm 90; 2 Samuel 7:18-29; Revelation 22:12-16

Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God; you have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come.”

2 Samuel, 7:18-19a NRSV

David wasn’t raised to be king of anything. For reasons beyond his ken, he was chosen by God to rule – and he was honest and humble enough to know it wasn’t out of his own strength. Well on his way to being the greatest king of Israel, he sits himself down before God and asks the question that reveals his true nature: “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?”

Without God, David can do nothing. His house isn’t great because he is great: his house is great because God holds him and his family. David knows he lives before the Lord and because of the Lord. Who David is, his life and his being, cannot be understood in isolation; he is God created and God related, and he is wise enough to know it.

The same is true of you and of me. We cannot answer the “who am I” apart from God because we are just as God created and God related as David. For reasons beyond our ken, we are chosen by God to live our particular lives. And who knows what those lives may offer to this world? If shepherds and carpenters end up as God’s royal messengers and children, who’s to say we won’t end up being the same?