“A man may do an immense amount of good, if he does not care who gets the credit for it.” Although there is much debate about the origin of this quote, David would certainly have agreed. For remember – he was the one who came up with the idea to build a permanent Temple for God. But God had told him that wasn’t his job. Because he was a man of war, he would have to let his son and successor build it.

Now, it would have been easy for David to sulk. Instead, he put all his effort into doing the part of the project that God would let him do, assembling the necessary materials and drawing up the plans in great detail. And why was David so willing to work so hard on a project he would never see completed, a Temple God expressly forbade him from building?

We find the answer in verse 5 – David wanted the Temple to be “exceedingly magnificent.” He wanted people “throughout all lands” to hear about it. And so David didn’t really care who built the Temple – he just wanted God to get the most glory possible from its completion. He was completely focused on doing what God wanted, so he didn’t care if Solomon’s name was on the cornerstone.

So, how about us? What if we were to stop being so concerned about building our own reputations and institutions? What if we were to do whatever might help God’s kingdom grow? Maybe there’s a soup kitchen or an afterschool program another congregation has organized that we can get involved in. Maybe we can encourage church plants in other towns or even in other countries. But whatever we do, if we stop caring who gets the credit, God will get more glory.

I Chronicles 22:2-5 (ESV)

2 David commanded to gather together the resident aliens who were in the land of Israel, and he set stonecutters to prepare dressed stones for building the house of God.
3 David also provided great quantities of iron for nails for the doors of the gates and for clamps, as well as bronze in quantities beyond weighing,
4 and cedar timbers without number, for the Sidonians and Tyrians brought great quantities of cedar to David.
5 For David said, “Solomon my son is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the LORD must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and glory throughout all lands. I will therefore make preparation for it.” So David provided materials in great quantity before his death.