Being a courageous warrior, David is often involved in battle and stressful situations. However, there now comes a rare interlude of calm and quiet in his life:
The king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him. — 2 Samuel 7:1
David has seldom known this kind of peace. The age-old battle with the Philistines is temporarily settled; all is quiet, at least for a while. There’s not another Goliath on the scene shouting blasphemies.
Inside his lovely cedar-lined home, David begins to reflect. An idea — a longing and a dream, really — comes to mind. To get feedback on this idea, David goes to the prophet Nathan, a close friend and counselor.
He said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.” Nathan replied to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you. — 2 Samuel 7:2–3
Good friends offer encouragement, and Nathan encourages David to follow through on what’s in his heart. And what exactly is that?
We’ve seen David bring the ark of God into Jerusalem for the people of Israel in their worship. But David begins to be bothered by the fact that the ark’s home is only a tent, while David himself lives in a beautiful palace. He has it in mind to build a permanent residence for God, to house the ark and all the sacred furniture. In all the centuries since the nation of Israel left Egypt, God’s dwelling place has been the tabernacle rather than any permanent structure, but David desires to change that.
I want to build a house for God, a temple in His honor.
From everything we know about David, he has no ulterior motive here, no selfish ambition, no desire to make a name for himself. In building this house, he genuinely wants to exalt no other name but Jehovah’s.
In the quieter interludes of our life, we often have time for our mind to seize a dream or an ideal. In a quiet moment you may have realized the vocation into which God was calling you. It’s in the interludes of life that those things often happen. You have to slow down and become quiet in those special times to hear His voice, to sense His leading.
But let me add this: Sometimes your dream is from God, and sometimes not, and it’s often hard to determine which is which.
- Your dream may be noble and worthy in itself, but when it’s not of God, it won’t come to fulfillment. Nor should it.
You may have trusted friends who say, as Nathan did to David, “Go for it, do all that’s in your mind; the Lord is surely in this” — only to have God show you later that the dream is not His plan.
That’s what happens to David.
God Redirects
Look at God’s response. Though it’s communicated to David through Nathan, it’s coming straight from God:
That night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying: Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build Me a house to dwell in?’ — 2 Samuel 7:4–5
A parallel passage puts it more directly:
Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: You are not the one to build me a house to dwell in’. — 1 Chronicles 17:3–4
What a hard answer for Nathan to take to the king! Just hours earlier, he encouraged David to go ahead and pursue his plans. Now Nathan hears the Lord saying, “No, no!”
But even while halting David’s dream, God offers him personal affirmation — again through Nathan:
This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. — 2 Samuel 7:8–9
What the Lord is saying is clear. “David, with My choosing, My gifting, and My presence — I’ve made you Israel’s king. Your purpose from Me has been to lead My people — not to build a temple.” God is confirming David’s true calling: “You’re a man of war. Your heart’s on the battlefield. You’re a soldier, a fighter — not a builder. And I’ve blessed you in this, so that all your enemies have been subdued.”
Then come words of promise — personally for David, and nationally for Israel:
Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies. — 2 Samuel 7:9–11
Then — astoundingly — an even higher promise to David:
The Lord declares to you that the Lord Himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. — 2 Samuel 7:11–13
What a breakthrough! “David, you are going to know the delight of having your own son build this temple! The dream will be fulfilled — not through your efforts but through those of your son.”
Keep in mind that it’s not a question of God’s judgment coming upon David as a consequence of sin on his part. It’s simply God’s redirecting David’s plan — and saying, “I say no to you and yes to your son. Now accept that.”
And now — notice especially the first sentence in those words of promise from the Lord: Instead of David constructing a “house” (the temple) for the Lord, the Lord promises to “establish a house” — to provide and sustain a royal dynasty — for David. Incredibly, it’s a lineage that will last forever. That’s God’s promise.
As we now know, this kingly line of David’s offspring will culminate in the eternal King of kings—Jesus, called “the Son of David.” There could be no greater “house,” no greater heritage for any man! And it’s promised by the Lord to the man after His own heart — to David in his humility before God.
But was it wrong or misguided of David in the first place to want to build the temple himself?
Look for a moment at a revealing passage in 2 Chronicles. David’s son Solomon is speaking here, years after his father’s death:
My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, ‘You did well to have it in your heart to build a temple for my Name. Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, your own flesh and blood — he is the one who will build the temple for my Name.’ — 2 Chronicles 6:7–9
David “did well” in his desire to erect the temple; God commends him for that. So this is not a matter of David being wrong. Rather, it’s for him to accept God’s no regarding this matter, and to live with the mystery of His will.
So often we expect God to package His plan for us exactly as we envision. We want our logic to be His logic. When it isn’t, we wonder what’s wrong when our life isn’t working out like we’ve planned and hoped.
But when God tells us no, it isn’t necessarily discipline or rejection. It may simply be redirection.
You’ve pursued His will — that’s your consistent desire. With all good intentions you once determined that by God’s grace you were going to pursue this or that direction in life. But here you are, perhaps many years later, and it hasn’t worked out.
Sometimes that puts us on a guilt trip. Others might even tell you, “You’re out of God’s will.” More likely, the very road you’re traveling is His will for you, and it took His saying no about something else to get you on this right road.
In our walk with God, we have to listen carefully day to day. Revisit your life’s work and calling each day. Keep it fresh, keep the fire hot; keep saying, “Lord, if this isn’t Your arrangement, Your plan, then make me sensitive to that. Help me see whenever You want to redirect my steps.”
As we see with David, God doesn’t call everyone to build temples. He calls some people to be soldiers, to do the work in the trenches. God has all kinds of creative ways to use us — including ways we can’t even imagine. And we certainly can’t see around the next bend in the road.
Let me also add that one of the hardest things to take is when God is using someone else to accomplish what you thought was your objective. That’s what David has to hear: “It won’t be you, David, to build My temple; it will be your son, Solomon.”
Excerpted with permission from Man of Valor, Man of Grace by Charles R. Swindoll, copyright Charles R. Swindoll.
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Your Turn
Has God given you a no? You might feel like you’ve done something wrong and are being punished, but that’s not necessarily what’s going on. Perhaps God is redirecting you! Ask Him today to give you direction, and thank Him that His no is the best possible answer… because it is! ~ Devotionals Daily