The Faith of David, Who Knew God

David prayed that he might build a temple, but God refused him. A man who had killed many and shed so much blood, God said, was not fit for the task. David did not grow angry; instead he gave thanks that God had kept him from falling into greater sin.

He could respond this way because he believed his own judgment could never come before God’s. In place of the temple, he turned his prayer to a blessing on his descendants, and set aside gold and silver in advance for Solomon, who had not yet been born. In the years that followed David won battle after battle and took great plunder, yet he did not keep it as his own but offered it back to God.

Where there is faith that God will lead along a good path, there is no need to lose heart, even when an earnest desire is refused. Making Joab, who had betrayed him, commander of the army and leaving judgment in God’s hands was a decision born of the same faith. In the end, God’s work is God’s own doing.