Triumph & TurmoilSample

Even Good Ideas Can Be Wrong

“I’ve just had an ‘apostrophe.’”

“I think you mean an ‘epiphany.’”

“Lighting has just struck my brain.”

“Well, that must hurt.”[1]

Ever had an “apostrophe?” A brilliant idea that suddenly formed in your mind from seemingly out of nowhere? An idea that at once seems so logical and so undeniable that you wonder how you never saw it or thought of it before?

At once, we get to feel creative, brilliant, strategic, and unique. It lets us live into the old stereotype of men as problem solvers. It’s a great feeling.

Once David’s kingship was firmly established and he had some time to sit back and ponder the work God had done on his behalf, he had an “apostrophe” of his own.

He said to the prophet Nathan (a successor of Samuel), “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent” (2 Samuel 7:2).

David wanted to do something for God. He wanted to build a house for God. Not as an expression of gratitude, though it’s not hard to imagine that was at least part of his motivation, but out of recognition for who God was and what God deserved.

And it was a good idea. Nathan’s reply in verse 3 confirms that.

But God said “no.”

Not because it wasn’t a good idea. But because it wasn’t a job for David to do (we learn in 1 Chronicles 28:2-7 that God’s “no” is connected to David being a warrior who had “shed blood” – the implication being that God’s house, a house of peace, needed to be built by a man of peace).

Instead, God promised to build David a house, a promise on which the rest of Scripture turns. The house God promised would include the eternal ruler, the Messiah, who would save God’s people and reign over God’s kingdom.

Men, we may have a great idea. We may want to serve God in unique and significant ways, and we can, but some things may not be for us to do, not necessarily because of our past, like David, but simply because God has something else in mind.

We may not like learning that we cannot carry out our ideas, but trusting God’s plan will always serve us better than the notoriety of doing something new.

The desire to build a house for God was one of David’s great ideas, even though he didn’t get to actually build it. Thinking about God and wanting to “build” His house is still part of our job as men of God today—the call to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:8) rings out loud and clear.

Prayer: God, it is hard to let go of something that seems like it should be ours. Help me hold things loosely, including the things intended to be done for Your honor and glory. Help me listen to Your voice and follow Your direction. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Reflection: What do you have in mind to do for the Lord? How do you pray about it? Are you willing to let it go if God asks you to? Even if it really is a good idea?

[1] Smee and Captain Hook in Hook, the Robin Williams adaptation of the Peter Pan story.