When the Philistines came to fight with him, David made the habit of finding out what God wanted him to do, before he went into battle. As a result, God gave him victory wherever he went.

Now David wanted to bring the ark of the covenant to where he was. So he went with the people, made them put the ark on a new ox cart and all the rest of the people celebrated it with singing and dancing. But what he did not realise was that the ark was only supposed to be carried by priests with poles on their shoulders and not on carts. As the oxen walked along they stumbled, and a man called Uzzah thought the ark was going to fall and held it safe. But God killed him right there because of his irreverence. David had mixed feelings of anger and fear towards the Lord that day. So he left the ark there and was scared to move it further. But then people told him that God was blessing the house where the ark was kept, and so decided to move it to his place. This time he arranged for it to be carried on shoulders. David himself was dancing with joy in front of the ark, and when he came home his wife Michal ridiculed him for making himself look cheap in front of the others. His reply was that he did it before the Lord and he was not bothered what people thought.

David now began to think that he should build a house for God's ark because he was himself staying in a palatial house by now. When he shared this with Nathan the prophet, Nathan thought this was a good idea. But later that night God spoke to Nathan and asked to tell David that He did not really need any house to stay in. But He appreciated David's desire to put the ark inside a permanent place. However, since David had been involved in too much bloodshed, God said that one of his sons would be permitted to build a house in His name. David responded by humbly acknowledging that he did not deserve all that God had done for him, and he was willing to abide by His plans.