Good morning, today we read 1 Chronicles 16-19.
Our themes today will be provision, responsibility, and salvation.
Provision
People ask why I use a wheelchair.
I tell them how I was involved in an automobile accident and broke my neck and back. Since the time I was twenty-five years old, I have had trouble walking.
They respond with pity, saying, “I’m sorry that happened to you”.
I would respond the same way to someone who told me that story.
This is because we rarely understand the whole story.
My goal, when I was young, was to live fast, love hard, and die young. I never wanted to live past thirty-five.
Being an atheist, I thought all there was to enjoy was the life we had.
I looked at people over thirty-five and they had so much responsibility they didn’t seem to have time, or money, for fun.
The assumption was partially correct. My death in the car wreck would have sent me to hell, where I would have longed to die.
We are eternal. That suffering would never end.
God, in His mercy, kept me alive and brought me to salvation.
We see in 1 Chron 16:3 that David provided food for every person in Israel.
God provides all we have. We may think it is our labor, or the money in the bank. It is not.
These things are the tools we use.
We would have no job if God didn’t provide it. He provides all our needs (see Phil 4:19).
I worked in sales, and part of my income was commissions. There were some months I would have a large commission check, but I would need every penny, because my car, or air conditioner, or refrigerator, would break.
Other months, I would have a little commission. Somehow, I had no expenses.
God knows our needs before we do. He provides.
Responsibility
With that provision also comes responsibility.
He will not provide a way for us to sin, or live in a fashion which does not glorify Him.
It is meeting our needs, not our wants.
Verse 17:12 highlights his greatest provision. God tells David that He will provide One who will build the house for God.
In Him, He will establish His throne forever.
The verse is not referencing Solomon building the Temple.
This is Jesus, creating in our hearts the actual house for God. This is where He dwells now.
It says, “I will be His father, and He will be My Son.”
With this provision, He also gives us responsibilities.
Verse 16:4 tells us that David appointed some Levites to minister before the Lord’s ark.
The responsibility of ministering included extolling, thanking, and praising God.
Ellicott uses the word record, instead of Extol.
To record meant chanting during the offering. This would commemorate the sacrifices given to the Lord.
They would also thank the Lord. This recognized Him for all He had done and provided. Even the offering they gave was from Him and for Him.
Then praising, as it is today, was singing songs and hymns, playing music and celebrating their love for God.
This was their assignment. It is still ours today.
Verse 8 says, to “Give praise to the Lord, proclaim His name; make known among the nations what he has done.” (NIV).
When the praise band sings and plays for the Lord, there is a humbling sensation which comes over me.
I misused the talents God gave me, pursuing sin. He now uses them to praise Him.
Salvation
The chronicler gives us a Psalm starting in verse 16:8. It tells us all we are to praise God for.
Then, in verse 16:23, we are to proclaim his salvation day after day.
In 16:35, it explains that we should cry out, “Save us, God our Savior.”
The Lord saved me when I cried out, asking for His salvation. He saved me long before that when He kept me alive during my car wreck.
Even before that, when I was only five years old, a truck hit me.
God has been saving me my whole life.
What is God doing in your life?
Have you recorded all He has done?
Do you thank Him, or are you taking Him for granted?
Today, remember to praise Him for the love He shows us.
