In 1 Chronicles 17:1, David’s thoughts turn to building a temple for the Lord. The king sent for the prophet Nathan and said, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under a tent.” David looked at how luxuriously he lived, and he wondered why he lived in a palace when the house of God was just a tent. Even though he was a king, it bothered him that he had such a beautiful place to live and yet the KIng of King (God) was dwelling in a tent.
David’s thoughts led him to have a desire to do something for the Lord. So , he resrted to building a temple for God. He ran his thought by the prophet -Nathan. Nathan thought it was a noble idea and he encouraged David to follow through with his plan(1 Chronicles 17:2). Yet that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, changing their plans: “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 17:4). God then pointed out that, in all the long history of the tabernacle, He never once rebuked Israel’s leaders for not building a permanent temple. Rather than letting David build the temple, God chose David’s son as the one who’d oversee this work (verses 11–12).
In response, David offered a prayer of praise: “You, Lord, are God! You have promised these good things to your servant. Now you have been pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, Lord, have blessed it, and it will be blessed forever” (1 Chronicles 17:26–27). David considered God’s word as a tremendous blessing that affirmed his son would also serve as king.
First Chronicles 22:8 sheds some light on God’s decision not to allow David to build the temple: “You have shed much blood and have fought many wars. You are not to build a house for my Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight.” David’s background of shedding blood in times of war was God’s reason for choosing David’s son instead (see also 1 Chronicles 28:3). God wanted a man of peace to construct the temple, not a man of war. His house was to be “a house of prayer for all nations” (Isaiah 56:7).
Since David was forbidden from building the temple himself, he helped to gather materials and prepare the plans for the temple’s construction. He said to Solomon, “I have taken great pains to provide for the temple of the Lord a hundred thousand talents of gold, a million talents of silver, quantities of bronze and iron too great to be weighed, and wood and stone. And you may add to them. You have many workers: stonecutters, masons, carpenters, as well as those skilled in every kind of work in gold and silver, bronze and iron—craftsmen beyond number. Now begin the work, and the Lord be with you” (1 Chronicles 22:14–16).
Solomon faithfully fulfilled this command during his reign, leading Israel to the height of world power. David’s desire to build a house for the Lord was noble, but God had other plans. David’s reaction to God’s nixing his plan is a model for us. When things do not go as planned, we need to continue praising Him. When God closes a door that we desperately wanted to keep open —we need to continue praising Him. In addition to Praise and acceptance, we need to move on in the right direction. who are we to complain about what God says we should not do. Who are we to mourn and consistently mourn about God’s decision and perfect will. We are His own, and He is our father. He knows better than we do and we live to see His will not our will being excecuted.
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