David is regarded as one of the greatest heroes of the Old Testament. Yet in David’s life there was a significant amount of frustration and disappointment, much of it of his own making. David wanted to build a temple (1 Chron 17:1), but God said it was not for David to build the temple because there was too much blood on his hands (1 Chron 22:8). Yet David looked ahead, and knew that there was something far greater that lay ahead, and Peter speaks about this in Acts 2:25-36. In many of the psalms as well as describing what was going on in his own life, David got glimpses of the wonderful things that would happen in the future.
We all experience disappointments in our own lives for all sort of reasons. When this happens we have a choice. We can dwell on the disappointments, or we can look ahead with faith. We can look ahead to the greater fulfilment. Moses is another man who experienced great disappointment. Because of his failure (highly understandable from a human point of view) to honour God, he was not allowed to enter the promised land. Yet on the mount of transfiguration we see Moses appearing with Jesus.
David was not allowed to build the temple that was only a shadow of what was to come. Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land that was only a shadow of what was to come. But neither of them have been denied the real temple and real promised land. There will be things that we are denied in this life, but we can be absolutely sure of the eternal life that Jesus promises us, and there will come a day when all our disappointments in this life will fade to nothing in the light of His glorious grace. Knowing this give us hope for the future, but also helps us to live in the present.
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