Most pastors are not great building project managers. But every pastor at one time or another has had to go through building campaigns. The truth is, though, very few of us who have gone through a building campaign sit around dreaming about going through another one!

One of the things that must be done in a building campaign is appearing before the county commissioners to have a hearing for the permit to build. They want to know all the details. Then it goes from there, in some places, to a community hearing.

I remember the tension in the congregation in Kansas as the residents met for a hearing. I was preaching through a series about "The Church on the Move" at that time, taking much of it from Exodus. I recall that the congregation was ready to cross the Jordan and move in to the Promised Land.

Well, anyway, I think about those times because the prophet Samuel gives us a peek into a hearing that was held for a building permit. The person asking was David. But the hearing wasn't before either the country commission or a community association; it was before God.

The Bible says that "The human mind plans the way, but the Lord directs the steps" (Prov. 16:9). My old Pastor translated that, "Man proposes -- God disposes." And this is a critical issue at work in the text before us. The Lord has provided some profound truths for believers in this hearing for a permit to build the Temple.

There are three movements in 2 Samuel 7:1-17 that I want to treat. The first movement I call David's Quiet Time.

I. David's Quiet Time

The passage begins with a contemplative King, enjoying the fruit of peacefulness. David, in fact, was enjoying the blessing of God. His kingdom is safe, and he is now residing in a splendid palace. I thank God for those times in life don't you? But what do you do with them? We often forget to enjoy ourselves. We work to live quiet and peace-able lives like Paul tells us to do in 1 Timothy 2, but when we get it we feel guilty! This is what happened to David. He can't enjoy his peace when the cause of the Lord is burning in his heart. Christians who long to see revival, who long to see the glory of God advanced, are like that, and its not a bad thing.

So David tells the prophet, Nathan, and he encourages him. Most of the time when a layman comes to a preacher and says, "The Lord has moved upon me to give a large sum to the building of a new church" we always thing it is a good idea.

"Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you."

Nathan is not here prophesying. He is just a good and decent believer who longs for the same things that David longs for.

Now, you have already heard that David isn't going to exactly get what he proposed. Remember, "Man proposes -- God disposes." And we might be tempted to think that David had a really bad idea. But, I see here that David was dreaming big for God. God is going to correct it, refine it, and unveil something glorious to David. But, it starts with David's quiet time. We hear a lot about the need for Christians to have a quiet time. Good. Because it is true. In the New Testament, Peter saw the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy on the Day of Pentecost: "'In the last days it will be,' God declares, 'that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams'" (Acts 2:17).