I read yesterday in a devotional book that perhaps the greatest thing David ever did was not slaying Goliath or honoring his enemy Saul,
but responding in quiet submission when God let him know, through Nathan the prophet, that he was not to build the temple.
but responding in quiet submission when God let him know, through Nathan the prophet, that he was not to build the temple.
'There are times when our grand human plans to do something for God are
seen, after a night of prayer, to be a huge human distraction from what
God is doing for us.'.
David could have gotten stuck right there, like the key stuck on our piano.
It drives Carrie crazy.
She and I tried and tried to figure out what the problem was.
Even Jonathan tried--to no avail.
We will have to wait for a master piano tuner or technician to fix the problem.
"As a highly successful king, David wanted to do something big for God.
When Nathan brought him the jarring news that he shouldn't do it, how did he react?
I thought how it also relates to ambition, however good.
These are times for "greater understanding and spiritual growth...
times to sit before the Lord."
Sitting before the Lord "wasn't passivity." It was "entering into the presence of God...and trading in our plans for God's plans."
Lord, when I want to be a good thing or do good things,
and You do not permit it,
may I wait humbly on You, and if necessary, let another take my place to do what I would have wanted to do.
May I get behind them and give them all I've got, even as David prepared gold, silver, timber and stones to build the house of the Lord.
Because the whole thing is not about me, or the temple or shrine to Your glory that I want to build,
or the project I want to do,
or the person I want to be,
but it's about obedience to Your will in my life.
When Nathan brought him the jarring news that he shouldn't do it, how did he react?
He sat before the Lord.
The author wrote that this story in David's life tells us something about handling critics and disappointments, when our minds are churning with unpleasant reactions.
I thought how it also relates to ambition, however good.
These are times for "greater understanding and spiritual growth...
times to sit before the Lord."
Lord, when I want to be a good thing or do good things,
and You do not permit it,
may I wait humbly on You, and if necessary, let another take my place to do what I would have wanted to do.
May I get behind them and give them all I've got, even as David prepared gold, silver, timber and stones to build the house of the Lord.
Because the whole thing is not about me, or the temple or shrine to Your glory that I want to build,
or the project I want to do,
or the person I want to be,
but it's about obedience to Your will in my life.
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