When Jesus Calls You Who You’re Not

I have a tattoo on my arm (sorry, mom). It simply says, “Who am I, oh sovereign Lord?” It comes from my favorite verse in 2 Samuel 7, which takes place after the Prophet Nathan visits his friend King David. David is desperate to build a home for Yahweh. He wants Him to have a dwelling place. David himself has a palace, and feels uncomfortable being established while the presence of Yahweh rests in a tent. He wonders how it’s possible for the God that he loves and adores not to have a resting place.

Nathan tells David, “Do as you wish. The Lord is with you.” 

Then later, when Nathan is alone with the Lord, He tells him that David is NOT to build a dwelling place for Him. Further, He states that the job would belong to David's son, Solomon. Lastly, He tells Nathan that He would establish a legacy of his family line that would never end. 

In this beautiful interaction between God, King David, and the Prophet Nathan, David, who just wants to honor God, is refused his initial request. He could’ve felt defeated or hurt that what he desired in his heart wasn’t God’s will. But the remainder of the Lord's words infuse him with hope and a future. In this moment, God is pronouncing that David's legacy would far outlast a building or temple for the Lord.

The lasting legacy instead was that the true home of the Lord would come through the line of David, through the life of Jesus. And it’s because of David’s heart for the Father that he will have a living legacy. 

I can’t imagine that David understood the scope of this promise. Essentially, God is sharing that there would be a coming Messiah, and He would descend from David’s lineage. His own DNA would house the living God! David’s line would continue as an eternal promise. 

This is a miraculous word! And even if David didn’t understand it, He still somehow knows it to be true. Because, at the implications of this word, David is rightly overwhelmed and humbled. 

And this is where we find my favorite verse. In absolute wonder and humility at Nathan’s prophecy, David sits in the presence of God and both asks and proclaims, “Who am I, oh sovereign, Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And if this were not enough in your sight, oh sovereign, Lord, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant—and this decree, Sovereign Lord, is for a mere human!” 

David goes on and on for the rest of the chapter in complete adoration of Yahweh. I highly recommend the read. He is just amazed at the promises God spoke over his life. 

Friends, this is a picture of what prophecy brings to us. It is awe-inducing. It gives us a proper view of God. And it causes us to sit in wonder, because whatever the Lord says carries eternal promises.

Don’t we want something that is eternal? It’s for eternity’s sake that Jesus finds us. His life gives us eternal purpose. In Him we find the reason for our very existence. His words are true forever. His love endures forever. But sometimes, we have moments that don’t look like the forever He died to give us. 

What I love about this particular scripture is that this word was spoken over David’s life prior to him killing Uriah; before he had an affair with Bathsheba. And it wasn’t as if God didn’t know this would occur. He is omniscient, after all. Based on this knowledge, it does not seem like David should be the person to whom God should promise an eternal legacy.

However, it’s quite possible that it was precisely because David's future was known by God that the Lord chose him. God didn’t look at David in light of who he was in that moment–full of adoration and worship– and declare, “Yes, you deserve all of this, David.” And He didn’t look ahead to the moment David was full of lust and pride, and decide to remove the eternal legacy and kingdom from him. (As if God would ever be as fickle as we are.)

Instead, He took the purest and most holy vantage point. God looked at the Messiah, Jesus Himself, generations later, and chose David’s line to inhabit the King of Kings—perhaps simply because David asked to build Him a dwelling place. And God gives us the true desires of our hearts, and gives them extravagantly, at that. 

This verse is also tattooed on my arm because it’s my story (not the birthing the Messiah part). Rather, Jesus spoke over my life at a time when I loved Him and adored Him. He spoke of a lasting legacy and calling into me, and over me. He knew full well that there would be a period of time that I would walk so far away from Him, down into the depths of hell, and I wouldn’t know how to get back. Nevertheless, He called me worthy to receive a calling, a purpose, an assignment in the midst of what I did not know I was capable of, in both holiness and hedonism. But somehow, knowing that, He still pronounced worth, hope, and a future over my life. 

I don’t know how that’s possible. I cannot figure it out. I cannot fathom it. I cannot make sense of that kind of love. But it is a testimony of Him - of His death, of His grace, of His power. He saw His life in mine when He saved me. All my days were numbered before Him, and they speak of Jesus’ life-saving love.

That’s all prophecy is. 

According to Revelation 19:10, the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy. We’ve really muddied the waters of prophecy when it is so simple. It’s what the Prophet Nathan did. He shared what God told him about the destiny of David, which testified of Christ. 

We are not the hero of the story. I am not. King David wasn’t. It’s always been about Jesus. And because of Jesus, your destiny in Christ can be called forth even before you think you’re worthy, even when you know you’re not, even when you actively fight against your calling.

Jesus’ life covers those sins when you choose Him. There is a testimony of Jesus being spoken over your life even now from heaven. You can choose to walk in it or not; choose to believe it or not; but it is true. David didn’t let his mistakes keep him from the word spoken over his life. Will you? 

Maybe that’s what Jesus was referring to in John 8:32, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” Maybe the kind of truth that really sets us free is living out the testimony of Jesus.  It’s clear in David’s story, that Jesus was present when God spoke those words to Nathan. When Nathan spoke those words to David, David chose to look at his life through the lens of God‘s words instead of looking at his life through his own actions and inactions. 

That made all the difference, I think. The Spirit of Prophecy speaks to who you will be as though it’s who you already are, and will be for eternity because of Jesus. (Romans 4:16-17)

I would presume, knowing this promise from God later prompted his heartfelt repentance. When he forgot who he was for a moment, he could recall the moment he asked, “Who am I, O Sovereign Lord?” 

I don’t know if it was a rhetorical question. Maybe he, like us, really wanted to know, wonder, and understand who the Father saw him to be. He needed that in those moments of doubt, unbelief, and unworthiness. We do too. 

Today, you’re invited to be like David, in wonder and humility, and ask, “Who am I, O Sovereign Lord?” And allow Him to speak to your destiny and watch it come forth. 

Reflection Questions: 

1. Is there any place where your destiny or identity was spoken over you, but you believe it has been erased by something you did or did not steward well?

2. What is something in your life that makes you sit in adoration and worship of our Father and ask, "Who am I, O Sovereign Lord?"

~Erin Arruda, Worthy Founder