https://www.odbm.org/en-GB/devotional/devotional-category/wherever-we-go?ts=1793836800000
2 Samuel 7:1-9 1After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, 2he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.” 3Nathan replied to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you.”
4But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying: 5“Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? 6I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling. 7Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” ’
8“Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. 9I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth.
However, things didn’t quite go to plan. Andrew’s contact lens got stuck in his eye, which quickly turned sore and inflamed. The team decided to take him to hospital. But first they prayed. “When I opened my eyes, something felt different,” Andrew remembers. “And within five minutes I had the new contact lens in.” Rejoicing at this turn of events, the team continued mountain climbing, Andrew’s eye now restored. “It was a reminder to me that God is with us in these natural spaces just as much as . . . in a church building.”
God reassured King David of something similar when he decided to build Him a temple: “I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt” (2 Samuel 7:6). God didn’t need a man-made structure to live in. Instead, as He reminded David, “I have been with you wherever you have gone” (v. 9)—as a shepherd boy and as a king. (Chris Wale, Our Daily Bread 5th November 2026)
History records that in the end it was not David who built the Temple for the LORD but his son Solomon, as David was a warrior king with much blood shed through his hands. David prepared the blueprint as instructed by Nathan the Prophet with Solomon undertaking the actual construction. Nevertheless David’s reign is still remembered till today as the Golden Age of Israel. Even our Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate, traces His genealogy and ancestry to the House of David as the anchor of His heritage among the Israelites.
Today’s Scripture however reveals an interesting statement from the LORD through Nathan and that is:
8“Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. 9I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth.
It was the same statement He made to Joshua as he was about to lead the children of Israel into Canaan after 40 years in the wilderness, except that in Joshua’s case it was in the future continuous tense but in David it was the past perfect.
There is a real sense that God watches His people from beginning to the end and all the way in between! He knew exactly where we are in Him and never ever takes His eyes off us. The writer of Hebrews (believed to be Paul) reiterates this that Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. In Revelation 1:8, the LORD declares that “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
The application this morning is that God knows and have been following our life as a human being from our birth till now and tracks our journey of faith in Christ. He was with us wherever we have gone and will be with us wherever we go and will go. He was and is and will be with us, in our past, our present and in our days to come.
Thus, “be strong and courageous”, says the LORD, “for I am with you wherever you go.” Do not be afraid, but be bold and brave to do the things that the LORD God has appointed us to do. Whatever we may be going through right now, His grace will be sufficient for us and He will strengthen and make us strong in our weakness! Amen!
