When God Says, "NO!" - Pt 3

Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house.” (2 Samuel 7:8-11 ESV).

God did not intend for David to build an earthly temple and communicated that fact through Nathan. The Hebrew word that is translated "house" is used in this passage two different ways. When it is used in verse 5, "Would you build a house for Me to dwell in," it means "structure, home," or in this case, temple. Here we see the other meaning for house which is descendants or a dynasty that carries on your name. From his lineage would come the Messiah for all men! Sometimes God says “No” to our dreams and to our plans. When He does, it is not to defeat us or to discourage us. He does it because He has something far better than we could have ever imagined planned for us. David thought he would build a temple and that would be the end of it. He found out that it was not God’s will for him to build a temple. He also found out that God had some things planned for his future that he never could have dreamed up on his own. Some of you have witnessed the death of your dreams. You have watched as life has altered the plans and dreams of your youth. In fact, we look back and often believe our lives have been wasted; perhaps we view life as a failure. We cannot miss two essentials: 1. First, God’s message in every circumstance and event is “I’ve got this!” God has not abandoned us to our own efforts or devices. We are his children and he always works our journey for our good (cf. Romans 8:28). 2. Second, our ultimate end in life is not anything we can accomplish. God has not put us here to build anything for anyone. He has put us here to glorify him by completing this path and entering into our eternal home that he has prepared and secured through the work of Christ. That is the real good news for us! God really has “got this!”