A Place At The Table

Opening: The Weight Warriors Carry

Have you ever sat across the table from a war veteran and really listened—listened until the silence said more than the words?

I grew up with those stories.

My father fought in the Second World War. He was a soldier in the Battle of the Bulge—and by the way, that has nothing to do with anyone’s waistline. He faced snow and gunfire and came home alive, but never entirely the same.

My brother fought in Vietnam. He went in a boy and came back carrying things he could not name. He had faced danger behind enemy lines, and the man who returned was not the boy who left. He now rests at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. I miss him still.

Through the years I’ve met other veterans—good men, decent men—who have taken life in battle. Even when war feels unavoidable, it leaves a mark. You can hear it in their pause, you can see it in their eyes. Something inside stays wounded.

And I need you to know tonight: King David understood that weight.

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David the Warrior

The women sang in the streets,

> “Saul has killed his thousands, but David his ten-thousands.”

He had stood toe-to-toe with Goliath and won.

Scripture records that he “made a name for himself” by striking down eighteen thousand Edomites (2 Samuel 8:13). He defeated the Moabites too. And remember—his great-grandmother Ruth came from Moab! Moab’s king had once given David shelter when Saul was hunting him (1 Samuel 22). Yet later David’s army measured out Moabite prisoners, sparing only one third. Whether revenge or strategy, we don’t know. But we know this: David was a warrior, and warriors carry scars you can’t see.

Somewhere deep inside David wondered if those blood-stained hands disqualified him from doing something beautiful for God.

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A Holy Desire and a Closed Door

Fast-forward to 1 Chronicles 17. David is no longer running. He’s living in a cedar-lined palace. Life is stable. And a thought begins to burn in his heart:

> “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under a tent.”

That wasn’t pride talking; that was devotion. He calls Nathan the prophet and shares his dream of building a permanent temple. Nathan answers on instinct, “Do whatever you have in mind, for God is with you.”

But that night heaven speaks.

> “Go and tell my servant David,” the Lord says,

“You are not the one to build me a house to dwell in. From the day I brought Israel up out of Egypt until now I have moved from tent to tent. Did I ever say to any of their leaders, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’”

Somebody needs to hear this tonight: sometimes God’s first word is NO.

David’s plan was pure. His heart was right. But God said no.

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When God Says No

Maybe David lay awake that night thinking, “Lord, is this rejection? Is it the blood on my hands? Is it the fights I fought, the men I killed?”

Have you ever been there?

You had a holy desire—marriage, ministry, a business meant to bless others. You prayed. You planned. Then heaven closed the door.

A young couple I know felt that.

They dreamed of starting a nonprofit to feed hungry kids. Funding lined up, volunteers signed on—and in one month everything collapsed. Grants fell through, key partners disappeared. They wept. They questioned. But listen—while one door shut, God was opening another. Six months later they were invited to lead a citywide food-security initiative with ten times the reach. What looked like rejection was redirection.

Somebody shout, “God’s no is not rejection!”

That’s what David was about to learn. God’s no wasn’t a slap. It was a setup.

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God’s Greater Yes Begins

Through Nathan the prophet, God kept speaking:

> “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, and made you ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you went. I cut off all your enemies. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth.

…I declare that the Lord will build a house for you. When your days are over, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you. I will establish his kingdom. I will be his father and he will be my son. I will never take my love from him. I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever.”

Do you hear the music in that promise?

David says, “I’ll build You a house.”

God replies, “No, David—I’ll build you a house. Not cedar and stone, but an everlasting kingdom.”

Centuries later the angel Gabriel would echo that very covenant to a young woman in Nazareth: