Four Sundays ago, on 26 May 2019, after I had served at the last service for the weekend and sent off some guests who were in town, I went to pick up my little boy, David, from the Children’s Church office as he had stayed back to play with his friends while waiting for me.
We came back to my desk and it was already 2.15pm. I was hungry and remembered I had a hot dog which was meant to be my breakfast. As I was about to bite into the bun, I suddenly remembered that my wife had texted me earlier to settle David’s lunch. So I offered him the bun.
What he did next touched my heart deeply. He asked me as he held the hot dog in his tiny hand and pushed it towards me, “What about you, Daddy?”
I said “It’s ok.” He asked me again, “Are you sure? You really don’t want it?”
I replied, “Yes, I’m sure. You can have it.” He ate the bun in three mouthfuls.
I knew he was really hungry because he ate both the hot dog AND the bun. Usually, he’d just eat the hot dog and pass me the empty bun! That Sunday, as I sat there watching my 6-year-old boy gobble up his lunch with such thoughtfulness for me, though my stomach was empty, my heart was full! I had a glimpse of how our Heavenly Father feels when, in the midst of going about our daily routines and enjoying what He has blessed us with, we pause and ask Him, “What about You, Daddy?”
There was another David in the Bible – a shepherd boy who later became the king of Israel. One day, he too asked a similar question, “What about You, Daddy?” 2 Samuel 7:1-2 tells us that, when David was settled in his palace and the Lord had blessed him with peace and rest from all the surrounding enemies under his leadership, he confided in Nathan the prophet that it was not right for him to enjoy the luxury of living in a beautiful cedar palace when God was living in a tent.
When the Lord heard this, He poured His heart out to Nathan the prophet, “I have never lived in a house, from the day I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until this very day. I have always moved from one place to another with a tent and a Tabernacle as my dwelling. Yet no matter where I have gone with the Israelites, I have never once complained to Israel’s tribal leaders, the shepherds of my people Israel. I have never asked them, “Why haven’t you built me a beautiful cedar house?” (2 Sam 7:6-7).
God was so moved that He promised David a house (2 Sam 7:11) in the form of a dynasty that will be established forever into eternity. King David became the yardstick by which all his descendants were measured. Even our Lord Jesus Christ humbled Himself, allowing Himself to be called the Son of David. As a result of his obedience and walk with God, David received a wonderful promise from God. The Lord promised to be a Father to David’s children, not just to the immediate children, but to his whole lineage. What a wonderful promise!
Too often we get caught up with the needs of people around us – how we feel or how others are feeling that we somewhat neglect how God feels about the situation. We’re so good at getting things done in the most efficient manner and solving problems with the wisdom He’s blessed us with that we’ve unknowingly become independent of Him, yet thinking that we’re still doing the ‘work and ministry of God’.
King David, on the other hand, was a man who’d do anything that would bring pleasure to God – ‘not my will but Yours be done’. He followed the Lord with his whole heart and did not turn to the right nor left, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite where he fell into the sin of adultery and murder (1 Kings 15:5).
David repented fully of these sins, accepted God’s judgments, and was fully restored. And, of all the mighty exploits he had done for the Lord, his greatest honour must be the one where God personally testified of him, recorded for all eternity in Acts 13:22 that “I’ve found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do ALL My will.”
What brings our Heavenly Father great pleasure and delight is when we have Him in our hearts, pursue Him, and consider Him in all matters. David was constantly thinking about God and how He feels – Is God pleased with what I’m doing and my actions?
That’s why he wrote in Psalm 139:23-24 (NLT): ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.’ King Saul was removed because he had no heart for God, so God raised David up because he had ALL heart for Him.
When was the last time you paused and asked, ‘What about You, Daddy?’
