I wanna show you something interesting.
Check out these verses:
“David said, ‘This is ADONAI’s house.
This is Israel’s altar for offerings.
David ordered foreigners in Israel assembled.
He appointed workers to shape stones.
They shaped stones for God’s house.
David prepared a large store of iron.
Iron was used for nails and clamps.
For gateway doors and fittings alike.
He gathered bronze beyond measure and weight.
He also stored countless cedar logs.
The Tzidonim brought cedar in abundance.
The people of Tzor brought more.
David said, “My son Shlomo is young.
He lacks experience for this task.
ADONAI’s house must be magnificent.
Its fame should reach every nation.
Its glory should be widely known.
I will prepare everything for him.”
So David made extensive preparations.
He did this before his death.‘”
-1 Chronicles 22:1-5
So what we learn from this interesting piece of information is that David had indeed shared his intense desire with Hiram to wanna build a house for the Lord.
Things had even progressed to the point where specific blueprints were drawn up, and construction materials had been gathered.
Yet it never happened.
Why?
What Solomon told Hiram was that his father never had a chance to build the Temple because of all the wars he was fighting.
That statement is only half true.
Here’s the real reason, as reported in verse 8 from the same 1st Chronicles 22 passage we just looked at:
“But a message from Adonai came to me,
‘You have shed much blood and fought great wars.
You are not to build a house for my name,
because you have shed so much blood
on the earth in my sight.”
-1 Chronicles 22:8
That’s your bottom line there, folks.
David had shed so much blood, both justly and unjustly.
Just blood was shed when he fought Israel’s enemies, the Philistines or the Palestinians (to use the Greek term more common today).
On the other hand, unjust blood was shed when he had Bathsheba’s husband and other rivals killed.
Therefore, the Lord said “No” to David when it came to building a house for Him.
Instead, that honor would go to David’s son, who, as we all know, turned out to be Solomon.
So what takeaway can we extract from all of this?
Simple.
David not being allowed to build a house for the Lord because of his sins is to me a sobering reminder that our behavior has severe consequences that can and will affect our relationship with the Lord.
David was a king who would go down in history as a man whose heart was after the Lord.
That cannot be denied, and I love King David.
Yet, he still paid a severe price when it came to his relationship with the Lord.
And that price was, as much as he so desired to do so, not being allowed to build the House of God.
This reminds me of when God barred Moses from entering the Promised Land because of his transgression.
This just reinforces the point all the more.
Your behavior has consequences…now and in the future.
So seek to do what is pleasing to the Lord daily.
Ya feel me?
I think you do.
Done.
Leave a Reply