3 posts tagged “1 chronicles”

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Sacrifices which cost nothing

I will not offer to the Lord what belongs to you or offer a burnt sacrifice that cost me nothing.

1 Chronicles 21:24

How often do I "sacrifice" things to the Lord that cost me nothing? Do I voluntarily give more than what I "need" to give, more than is comfortable, to God? So often I don't. But David did!

The background here is that because of David's pride, a major plague is going on throughout the land. A prophet tells David he needs to bring a sacrifice to God so the plague will stop. David finds the next best piece of land and asks to buy it so that he can build an altar on it. The owner of the land David offers the land for free.

At this point, if I was David, I'd be "Great, the quicker I can build the altar and get this sacrifice thing over with, the quicker the plague will stop." But David's heart is far deeper: He values the sacrifice more than stopping the plague right away. He refuses to make a sacrifice which costs him nothing, even though and because more effort (not to mention more of his money) is involved.
Post a comment Tags: david, sacrifice, quiet time, 1 chronicles

Whatever you have in mind

Nathan said to David, “You should do whatever you have in mind,  for God is with you.”

1 Chronicles 17:2

I love this - so often I get so worked up about "What's God's will for my life, what does he want me to do..." that I forget this simple principle: If I really am sure that everything between God and me is all right, that "God is with me" and I am connected to God, I can simply "do whatever I have in mind". Should it be a bad idea, I can trust God to tell me. In fact, in this chapter, exactly that occurs: God tells David to NOT do what he had in mind.

But the security Nathan gives David here speaks to my heart on how God desires us to make our own decisions when we're connected to him. He doesn't expect us to keep running to him for every last detail. Of course this doesn't mean we DON'T seek him for his will, especially when we're talking about big things. But it does mean we can relax a little.

Oh, and an encore from this chapter:

I declare to you that the Lord will build a house for you!

1 Chronicles 17:10

Remember that David was the one who wanted to build a house for God. But here God says "No, I don't need a house, instead, I will build you a house - a dynasty which will last forever!" God is making sure David realizes that David can never even come close to repaying God for His blessings, and He makes sure by simply adding blessing upon blessing.

God's grace is so huge, it completely overwhelms David. In his response to God, he uses the emotional and thankful "O, God!" or "O, Lord!" a whopping 9 times!
Post a comment Tags: david, grace, freedom, quiet time, blessing, god's will, 1 chronicles …

Master of the Breakthrough

I've decided to do like my wife and journal my QT on here, trying to do it every day. We both have these journals in our RSS feed readers, so we can keep each other accountable. Kind of cool.

Today's Daily Reading

So they marched against Baal Perazim and David defeated them there. David said, “Using me as his instrument, God has burst out against my enemies like water bursts out.” So that place is called Baal Perazim (which means Master of the Breakthrough).

1 Chronicles 14:11

This really encourages me, for a couple of reasons:

  • God burst out not on his own, but "by David's hand"
  • Part of who God IS is that He is the One who breaks through barriers, breaks out against His enemies. Breaking through in my life, in my family, at my work, in my church, in my city, in my country, all that is a part not only of what He'd like to DO, but who He actually IS.
  • God is not only One who breaks through, He is the Master of the breakthrough.

Post a comment Tags: david, quiet time, names of god, 1 chronicles