The Lord’s response to David is not a rebuke as if David’s request was sinful and wrong.1 It is simply an answer in which the Lord made it clear that David would not be building a temple or a house for the Lord. The Lord alone determines when a house or temple will be built, not his servants,2 and in this case the timing was not right (see 1 Kings 5:3–5).3
5 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD: Would you build me a house to dwell in?