2 Samuel 7:18-29
18 Then David the king went in and sat before the Lord, and he said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far? 19 And yet this was insignificant in Your eyes, O Lord God, for You have spoken also of the house of Your servant concerning the distant future. And this is the custom of man, O Lord God. 20 Again what more can David say to You? For You know Your servant, O Lord God! 21 For the sake of Your word, and according to Your own heart, You have done all this greatness to let Your servant know. 22 For this reason You are great, O Lord God; for there is none like You, and there is no God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears. 23 And what one nation on the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people and to make a name for Himself, and to do a great thing for You and awesome things for Your land, before Your people whom You have redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, from nations and their gods? 24 For You have established for Yourself Your people Israel as Your own people forever, and You, O Lord, have become their God. 25 Now therefore, O Lord God, the word that You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house, confirm it forever, and do as You have spoken, 26 that Your name may be magnified forever, by saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel’; and may the house of Your servant David be established before You. 27 For You, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made a revelation to Your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house’; therefore Your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to You. 28 Now, O Lord God, You are God, and Your words are truth, and You have promised this good thing to Your servant. 29 Now therefore, may it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You. For You, O Lord God, have spoken; and with Your blessing may the house of Your servant be blessed forever.”1 Chronicles 22:1-6
22 Then David said, “This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”
2 So David gave orders to gather the foreigners who were in the land of Israel, and he set stonecutters to hew out stones to build the house of God. 3 David prepared large quantities of iron to make the nails for the doors of the gates and for the clamps, and more bronze than could be weighed; 4 and timbers of cedar logs beyond number, for the Sidonians and Tyrians brought large quantities of cedar timber to David. 5 David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the Lord shall be exceedingly magnificent, famous and glorious throughout all lands. Therefore now I will make preparation for it.” So David made ample preparations before his death.6 Then he called for his son Solomon, and charged him to build a house for the Lord God of Israel.
What a father! He may have been weak at other times, but at this moment, David stands tall. “Lord, I know You don’t want me to fulfill the dream, but, Lord, I’m going to set apart as much as I can to support my son as he fulfills the dream that was on my heart.” What an unselfish response.
I see two simple truths in all this. First, when God says no, it means He has a better way, and He expects me to support it.
Second, my very best reaction is cooperation and humility. He doesn’t call everybody to build the temple, but He does call everyone to be faithful and obedient. Some of you who are reading this are living with broken dreams. Sometime in the past you had high hopes that your life would go in a certain direction. But the Lord, for some mysterious reason, has now said, “No.” And you’ve moved along in life and now you’re up in years, and you find yourself slowly becoming shelved, and the younger ones are taking charge and moving on. How quickly age takes over!
Just about the time we get our act together, we’re too old to pull it off. And so we release it to the Solomon in our lives. It takes genuine humility to say to that person, “May God be with you. I’ll do everything I can to support you in seeing that it gets accomplished.”
Do you identify with David? Did you have your hands full of your dreams and your visions, ready to present them to God on the altar of sacrifice? Did you have your plans all prepared and thought through, only to see them crumble at your feet? And now you’re standing there, empty-handed?
Know this: God is ready to fill your empty hands like you would never believe, if you will only lift them up to Him in obedience and praise, as David did. God is still alive and well, and He knows what He’s doing. To some He says yes. To others, no. In either case, the answer is best. Why? Because God’s answers, while surprising, are never wrong.
God’s answers to our prayers may be surprising, but they are never wrong.
— Charles R. Swindoll
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