When God Says No

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).