That’s Not What He Wanted

Tom Osbourne, the legendary coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, was a great recruiter but the one recruit he regrets not getting was Marshall Faulk. While several big-name programs were after him, Nebraska seemed to have the inside edge. Osbourne had charmed all the people in Faulk’s life, his mother, his teacher, his coaches, even Faulk himself. However, they made one crucial error. They were recruiting him as a defensive back. Marshall wanted to run the ball. So when the less notable program of San Diego State said they’d let him carry the ball, he signed with them. In his second game as a freshman, he set the record for yards in a single game. He would run all the way to the NFL and the Hall of Fame.

What could he have done at Nebraska, a team known for its great running game? We’ll never know because they never bother to ask Marshal Faulk if he wanted to be a running back.

David did something similar. He wanted to build a nice cedar house for the ark of God. The prophet Nathan thought it was a great idea, God would love it. Yet no one bothered to ask God.

"Wherever I have gone with all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel, which I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, 'Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?”'

2^nd Samuel 7:7

Many people today do the same thing in their approach to the worship of God. We think we know what God is and what he wants, without ever bothering to see if that is what he said to do. We might have everyone on board with us, but does it really matter if God isn’t?

Before we think we are pleasing God in our efforts, we need to make sure we know what he wants. We may miss out on great things because we simply never bothered to see if what we were offering him was what he wanted in the first place!

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