2 Samuel 7:19

"Handfuls of Purpose"

For All Gleaners

"Is this the manner of man, O Lord God?" 2 Samuel 7:19 .

David was surprised by the greatness of the divine promise. Not only did the Lord speak of David himself, but he spake of David's house, saying of his son, "He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: but my mercy shall not depart away from him." This astounded David; he said Thou hast not only spoken well of me, "thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come." David saw in the divine procedure a method that was contrary to all known analogies. This is what we must always see in the Scripture, and in all the religion which it discloses. The Bible realises its greatness in its distinctiveness. When we read it we say, Is this the manner of our books? The same characterises the whole service of Jesus Christ. The people who heard him, said, "Never man spake like this man;" and others said, "What manner of man is this?" Jesus Christ cautioned his disciples against merely mimicking the good manners of the pagans; he said, "What do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? " When he left his disciples, he said, "Not as the world giveth, give I unto you." If Christianity is a mere variety of religion, if it is one of a hundred other systems, if it is willing to sit down amongst them, and to take what applause it can extract from men in competition with other religions, then indeed it is not worth receiving, certainly not worth dying for; it is when the Christian religion discloses its uniqueness that it discloses its un-approachableness; when it does for men what no other religion can do, then it shows how truly it came out of heaven from God. We are not called upon to exhibit a common morality, but a special spirituality.