Setting the pace

December 16: Setting the Pace
1 Chronicles 29:1-9 (HCSB)
"1 Then King David said to all the assembly, “My son Solomon—God has chosen him alone—is young and inexperienced. The task is great because the temple will not be for man but for the Lord God. 2 So to the best of my ability I’ve made provision for the house of my God: gold for the gold ⌊articles⌋, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron, and wood for the wood, as well as onyx, ⌊stones for⌋ mounting, antimony, stones of various colors, all kinds of precious stones, and a great quantity of marble. 3 Moreover, because of my delight in the house of my God, I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the house of my God over and above all that I’ve provided for the holy house: 4 100 tons of gold (gold of Ophir) and 250 tons of refined silver for overlaying the walls of the buildings,
5 the gold for the gold ⌊work⌋ and the silver for the silver, for all the work to be done by the craftsmen. Now who will volunteer to consecrate himself to the Lord today?”
6 Then the leaders of the households, the leaders of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and the officials in charge of the king’s work gave willingly. 7 For the service of God’s house they gave 185 tons of gold and 10,000 gold coins, 375 tons of silver, 675 tons of bronze, and 4,000 tons of iron.
8 Whoever had ⌊precious⌋ stones gave them to the treasury of the Lord’s house under the care of Jehiel the Gershonite.
9 Then the people rejoiced because of their ⌊leaders’⌋ willingness to give, for they had given to the Lord with a whole heart. King David also rejoiced greatly.
For the next several days I want to consider the example we have in King David as he gave to the God’s work."

I want to consider first what David said about this work of God in building the Temple. Who was it that God chose to build the temple? Solomon, the son of David. What do we know about Solomon? He was young and inexperienced. He knew nothing about building anything. No temple had ever been built before. He did not know anything about building or reading blueprints. I bet when everyone heard who had been selected to direct the building project they must have said, “Are you kidding me, why he does not know the first thing about building a temple.”

How just like God this is to pick someone who is the least qualified and put them in charge of such a great task. Even King David says as much, “My son Solomon-God has chosen him alone- is young and inexperienced. The task is great because the temple will not be for man but for God.” Oh this is not some ordinary task where you can go out and pick you best contractors, this task will require a complete devotion to God and His word. It will require men and women who will set their hearts affections on the things of God and not on things of the earth.

Think of it, to build a temple with inexperienced and unskilled workers. Someone said it best year ago when they penned these words, “God does call the qualified he qualifies the called.”

As you are thinking about this upcoming year and beginning now to set some goals for this new year approaching what great tasks does God have for you? Perhaps you may be called to do something you are completely unqualified for, have no fear. God is in the business of selecting persons who are not qualified in the eyes of the world. God has other ways of leading those who are called by God to perform tasks they could never do on their own.

Tomorrow we will consider how it is that God qualifies those he calls. For now suffice it to say that God has called all of us to things much greater than any of us could ever accomplish on our own.

Thanks be to God for such a calling as ours.

Rejoicing in the Calling of God,

Pastor phil