2 Samuel 7:21
ESV
Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it.
NIV
For the sake of your word and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made it known to your servant.
NASB
For the sake of Your word, and according to Your heart, You have done all this greatness, to let Your servant know.
CSB
Because of your word and according to your will, you have revealed all these great things to your servant.
NLT
Because of your promise and according to your will, you have done all these great things and have made them known to your servant.
KJV
For thy word's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all these great things, to make thy servant know them.
NKJV
For Your word’s sake, and according to Your own heart, You have done all these great things, to make Your servant know them.
What does 2 Samuel 7:21 mean?
God has promised to give David a son to sit on his throne and a descendant to reign forever (2 Samuel 7:12–16). David's reputation will be as famous as the "great ones of the earth" (2 Samuel 7:9). When David hears, he goes to the ark of the covenant and praises God. He knows he's not worthy of so much favor; God has chosen to do this. If God promises it, the history of mankind will have no choice but to make it happen. He's so overwhelmed that he can only trust God can hear the gratefulness in his heart (2 Samuel 7:18–20).One of the reasons David is thankful is that God has let him know what's going to happen. In that time and place, ruling a nation was a dangerous job. If foreign armies weren't trying to invade, or raiders weren't trying to disrupt the political structure, rivals might try to take the throne by force (2 Samuel 5:17–25; 4:5–6; 1 Kings 16:8–13). David doesn't have to worry about any of this. He knows he will die when his "days are full," and his son will take the throne after him (2 Samuel 7:12). That son will have the honor of building the temple David desperately wants for God. And his descendant's reign will last forever (2 Samuel 7:13–16).
David knows Saul disobeyed God, lost His son's chance to be king, and then lost his life. David can go to his grave knowing this won't happen to him.
In the New Testament, James revealed that God is the source of every good thing, including our own place in His family, by His will and His word:
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
James 1:17–18
