A noble desire

But the Lord said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. Nevertheless, you shall not build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.’
1 Kings 8:18-19 ESV

The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task.
1 Timothy 3:1 ESV

I know from first hand experience how hard it is when you have a desire in your heart to serve in ministry to build the house of the Lord, and that desire is unfulfilled.

When that door is closed it can be a testing time that lays bare many other emotions and desires, not all of them good. There can even be a temptation to respond like Cain when his offering was rejected. Rising up in anger that we have been spurned.

I have seen more than one man do great harm not just to their own life but to the work of God by the way they responded when their ministry desires were declined.

But it's important we hear what the word says over the clamour of our own experience. The saying is trustworthy! It was a good desire to have. Even if it wasn't fulfilled. We are in the same company as David. He had it in his heart to build the house of God, but it wasn't to be. Not because there was anything wrong with his desire. Not because there was anything wrong with him. Just because God had other plans for his life.

Don't allow a good desire to become a root of bitterness. David still had an important part to play in the building of God's house even if it wasn't in the way he first imagined.