When you think of your relationship with God, how would you describe it?
That is, admittedly, a broad question that we could answer in many ways. A relationship with God can be hot or cold, it can be close or distant. Some people prefer to emphasize one person of the Trinity. For example, you might see yourself as praying to the Father, being a sibling or friend of Jesus, or walking in step with the Holy Spirit, especially given that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.
The Scriptures describe a relationship with God using numerous analogies or metaphors. We are adopted into the family of God. We are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. We are disciples of Jesus. We are the body of Christ. There are so many more images in Scripture, all depicting our relationship with God.
Each of those images—adoption, citizenship, and body—depict for us a nuance of what it means for us to be the people of God. There is no one metaphor that could ever capture all the meaning of God’s desire and effort to be in relationship with people. But this coming week we’re going to talk about another very important one that appears frequently in both the Old and New Testaments. God used this relational method with Israel and the church numerous times, which indicates for us that it is vital.
I’m referring to the concept of covenant. Do you think of yourself as in covenant with God? My guess is that few Christians think about their relationship with God that way. If someone asked you about God, would you say, “I am in a covenant relationship with God?” Perhaps in bygone eras or in other contemporary cultures, Christians might be more inclined to see themselves in covenant with God. My hunch is that we American Christians rarely think that way about God.
If I am right that we don’t think about our relationship with God in terms of a covenant, I wonder if it is because covenant is an uncommon way to describe any relationships in our culture. When is the last time you heard the word “covenant” used in economics/business, arts, education, government/politics, medicine, science, or athletics, to name a few of our culture’s spheres of influence? Aside from religion, we almost never talk about covenant. Even in religion, as I suggested earlier, we don’t often think about ourselves as in covenant with God. Wedding ceremonies might refer to marriage as a covenant. Is “covenant” in danger of becoming a lost concept? If so, we Christians should be concerned.
In our continuing blog series through the Life of David, this week we will be studying 2 Samuel chapter seven, which emphasizes covenant. I encourage you to read 2 Samuel chapter seven ahead of time. Get ready, you will not see the word “covenant”. But the concept of covenant is all over this passage. We’ll talk about that why covenant is vital to understanding 2 Samuel 7, and why it is so important for Christians in America in 2024 and beyond.
Photo by Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash
Engaging Scripture 