“Then King David rose to his feet and said: ‘Hear me, my brothers and my people. I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord and for the footstool of our God, and I made preparations for building. But God said to me, “You may not build a house for my name, for you are a man of war and have shed blood.”‘” – 1 Chronicles 28:2-3
Sometimes you can have exciting plans with the best of intentions and it still isn’t God’s will. Your plan can be 100% focused on glorifying God and still not be God’s will. This can be difficult to understand and we don’t always handle the news in the best way. Fortunately, King David experienced this firsthand and the way he handled his disappointment is helpful for the rest of us who love the Lord.
God had done extraordinary things for David, raising him from being a shepherd to the being king of Israel. He’d used David to conquer Israel’s enemies and establish the kingdom in strength. David loved God and God loved David. So, David naturally wanted to do something wonderful for God. He planned to build a beautiful temple in Jerusalem that would be dedicated to the Lord. God hadn’t asked for it, but it was a magnificent idea with the best of intentions.
But it wasn’t God’s will. God said, “No”. God said, “Not now.” And God said, “Not you.” That can be very difficult to handle! When God tell us “No”, “Not now”, or “Not you”, we’re often tempted to just plow forward anyway. That’s a very bad idea which reveals those plans weren’t really about God at all. They were actually about us and what we wanted.
Thankfully, David didn’t plow forward. He accepted God’s answer and did what would best serve God and bless others. He prepared the way for someone else (his son, Solomon) to build the temple. He collected materials. He organized resources. He brought in experts. He blessed the person to whom God said, “Yes”. In that way, David’s plan eventually came to fruition. But not then and not by him.
How well do you handle God’s “No”? His “Not now”? His “Not you”? Are you able to quickly stop charging forward and instead look for ways to bless those to whom God says “Yes”? #FollowJesus