Read Dr. David Jeremiah Daily Devotional for today July 18 2023: Good News, Bad News
SCRIPTURE: Thus says the Lord of hosts [to David]…. “I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and have made you a great name, like the name of the great men who are on the earth.”-2 Samuel 7:8-9.
A standard dialogue technique in screenwriting is to have one character say to another, “I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you want first?” It’s a tough choice to make when you don’t know what either piece of news will be.
David experienced something like that choice—only God didn’t ask him which news he wanted first. To prepare David’s heart for the bad news to come, God gave the king the good news first. The good news was that God had always been with David, had given him success over his enemies, and had guaranteed that his descendants would continually occupy the throne in Israel. But the bad news was that David would not have the honor of building a “house” for God in Jerusalem; that honor would fall to his son, Solomon.
There is always good news from God: He is always faithful, even in the face of bad news. Thank Him today for His faithfulness to you.
Though men are false, God is faithful.
Matthew Henry