Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

“Now it came to pass, as David sat in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in an house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD remaineth under curtains. Then Nathan said unto David, Do all that is in thine heart; for God is with thee. And it came to pass the same night, that the word of God came to Nathan, saying,” – (1 Chronicles 17:1-3)

In our text this morning, in chapter 17, we read about King David’s desire to build a permanent temple for the Lord in Jerusalem. Up until this point the ark of the Lord, and the corporate worship of God by the nation of Israel took place in a tabernacle, which was basically a tent. The tabernacle was built during the time of the wilderness wanderings of Israel after God brought them out of Egypt. The tabernacle dwelt in Shiloh for a while, and then it was eventually moved to Jerusalem. David’s desire was to build the temple, and this was a good desire. His heart was right; he wanted to do something to please the Lord. He inquired with Nathan the prophet in order to find out if it was the will of God. Nathan thought that building the temple was a good idea too, so he told David to “Do all that is in thine heart”. However, we see that God had a different plan.

My thought this morning is that we ought to check with God first before we make big decisions. In our story Nathan gives David the green light for building without having asked God about it. Nathan never would have done this if what David was asking was a bad thing or even a questionable thing, but because it was a good thing, he didn’t feel the need to go to God. What happens? God has to go to him, and tell him to go back to David and tell him that he will not be building a temple for him. God did want a temple built eventually, but he didn’t want David to do it. Solomon, his son, would be the one to build the temple for the Lord.

The bottom line to my thought this morning is to challenge us to ask before we act. If you have a decision to make, and the thing that you want to do is not against the revealed will of God (the Bible), check with Him before you do it, just to be sure it is His perfect will. If after you ask Him He doesn’t stop you, then you can go ahead with your plan; but be willing to let Him close the door whenever He wishes. It has been my experience here at Jersey Shore Baptist Church, that I have gotten myself into more trouble because I have done “good” things that were not God’s perfect will.