Why does God choose some people for specific tasks? We don’t really know any more than David did. He didn’t know why God had chosen him, the youngest of his father’s sons, to be king. In fact, he didn’t know why the tribe of Judah had been chosen to provide the royal dynasty of Israel (v. 4). And David didn’t really know why God had chosen Solomon from among all his sons to succeed him (v. 5).

But at the end of the day, it didn’t really matter why God had chosen each man to perform his specific task. No, the important thing for both David and Solomon was for them to do what God had called them to do. David had to obey God by not going forward with the building project for which he had spent so much time planning and preparing. Conversely, Solomon’s job was to get busy and build the Temple that God appointed him to build (v. 10).

But why was it so important that the Temple be built in the right way by the right people? Why wasn’t it appropriate for David, the warrior who had shed so much blood (v. 3), to build the Temple of God? Because the Temple was a visual representation and foreshadowing of the Person and Work of Christ. Before Jesus was even born, the Temple illustrated how He would be the perfect, spotless sacrifice for our sins, and the Light of the world, and the Bread of Heaven and God with Us and so many other things. It was because Jesus would be pure and holy that it was so important that the king who built His Temple be as much like Him as possible.

So, what has God called you to do today? It will do you no good to chase after a job to which God has not called you. Instead, serve God to the best of your ability, and demonstrate the character of Christ in everything you do. And let’s all cling to the promise we find in 9, that if we seek the Lord in such a way, He will let us find Him.

I Chronicles 28:2-10 (NASB)

2 Then King David rose to his feet and said, “Listen to me, my brethren and my people; I had intended to build a permanent home for the ark of the covenant of the LORD and for the footstool of our God. So I had made preparations to build it.
3 “But God said to me, ‘You shall not build a house for My name because you are a man of war and have shed blood.’
4 “Yet, the LORD, the God of Israel, chose me from all the house of my father to be king over Israel forever. For He has chosen Judah to be a leader; and in the house of Judah, my father’s house, and among the sons of my father He took pleasure in me to make me king over all Israel.
5 “And of all my sons (for the LORD has given me many sons), He has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.
6 “And He said to me, ‘Your son Solomon is the one who shall build My house and My courts; for I have chosen him to be a son to Me, and I will be a father to him.
7 ‘And I will establish his kingdom forever, if he resolutely performs My commandments and My ordinances, as is done now.’
8 “So now, in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God, observe and seek after all the commandments of the LORD your God in order that you may possess the good land and bequeath it to your sons after you forever.
9 “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.
10 “Consider now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be courageous and act.”