Originally posted: 12/25/2019
“I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them…” (7:10).
I’m partial to the concepts of planting mentioned in Scripture. I love the truths conveyed: as He plants His truth in us we are planted in Him. (And I love that we find ourselves in this chapter on Christmas Day, 2019).
Planting implies growth, that we would bear fruit. And spiritual planting implies a cooperative effort of digging; as we dig in His Word, He digs the world out of us and plants His eternal truth within.
Planting implies security. It is the Lord God Who will plant His people, in His appointed place… His Planting Place.
Consider His Planting Place
- His Planting Place… the Place Appointed by Him.
- “I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them…” (7:10).
- His Planting Place… the Place of His Protection and Security.
- “…that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly,” (7:10).
- His Planting Place… the Place of His Endless Lovingkindness.
- “but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him…” (7:15).
- His Planting Place… the Place His Own Heart is Revealed.
- “For the sake of Your word, and according to Your own heart, You have done all this greatness to let Your servant know,” (7:21).
- His Planting Place… the Place His Word is Confirmed.
- “Now therefore, O Lord God, the word that You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house, confirm it forever, and do as You have spoken,” (7:25).
- His Planting Place… the Place His Name is Magnified.
- “that Your name may be magnified forever, by saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel’; and may the house of Your servant David be established before You,” (7:26).
- His Planting Place… the Place of Courageous Prayer.
- “For You, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made a revelation to Your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house’; therefore Your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to You. 28 Now, O Lord God, You are God, and Your words are truth, and You have promised this good thing to Your servant. 29 Now therefore, may it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You. For You, O Lord God, have spoken…” (7:27-29).
How do we respond to His Planting Place?
God confirmed His promise to David, that He would plant His people in the Promised Land. But He was also speaking of a future promise, the salvation He would provide through the line of David, the promised Messiah, the Son of God.
“And yet this was insignificant in Your eyes, O Lord God, for You have spoken also of the house of Your servant concerning the distant future,” (7:19).
When we place our faith in God’s Son for our salvation, we are placed in Him.
But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, (1Corinthians 1:30).
As we consider His Planting Place, let us reflect on Jesus, our Savior, our Planting Place of salvation, new life and growth:
- His Planting Place… the Place Appointed by Him.
- And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved, (Acts 4:12).
- His Planting Place… the Place of His Protection and Security.
- “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one,” (John 10:27-30).
- His Planting Place… the Place of His Endless Lovingkindness.
- Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?… 37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, (Romans 8:35, 37-39).
- His Planting Place… the Place His Own Heart is Revealed.
- “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life,” (John 3:16).
- His Planting Place… the Place His Word is Confirmed.
- For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silvanus and Timothy—was not yes and no, but is yes in Him. 20 For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us, (2 Corinthians 1:19-20).
- His Planting Place… the Place His Name is Magnified.
- …so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, (Philippians 2:10-11).
- His Planting Place… the Place of Courageous Prayer.
- Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need, (Hebrews 4:16).
May we learn from David’s response.
Then David the king went in and sat before the Lord, and he said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far? (7:18).
Let us come to His Planting Place daily. May we humbly come before Him to sit at His feet that we would be planted in Him and He would plant His love in us, that we would grow in our faith and bear much fruit for His glory.
…that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God, (Ephesians 3:16-19).