Week 3, Day 5

Hi friends,

Yesterday we talked about King David and how he went above and beyond giving what was required of him.  That is generosity.  Today we take a glance at the end of David's life.  Just a quick background to the story:  The Ark of the Covenant was a sacred box that the Israelites built on their way to the promised land from Egypt.  This box held the 10 Commandments and various other items.  When the Israelites would travel the Ark of the Covenant would lead the way.  When the Israelites would camp for the night, week, or month, they would set up a temporary shelter for the Ark called the Tabernacle.  It was said that God himself would dwell in the middle of that Tabernacle along with the Ark of the Covenant.  It was where God lived.  When David became King (and before his reign), he witnessed the vulnerability of the Ark being held in a temporary shelter.  It was stolen in battle several times.  So finally at the end of David's life he decides it is time for a more permanent home.  David decides to start collecting money to build what we know as the Temple.  This is where we pick up the story in 1 Chronicles 29:1-5:

Then King David said to the whole assembly: “My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. The task is great, because this palatial structure is not for man but for the Lord God. ² With all my resources I have provided for the temple of my God—gold for the gold work, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron and wood for the wood, as well as onyx for the settings, turquoise,^[a] stones of various colors, and all kinds of fine stone and marble—all of these in large quantities. ³ Besides, in my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple: ⁴ three thousand talents^[b] of gold (gold of Ophir) and seven thousand talents^[c] of refined silver, for the overlaying of the walls of the buildings, ⁵ for the gold work and the silver work, and for all the work to be done by the craftsmen. Now, who is willing to consecrate themselves to the Lord today?”

You see, not only did David go about collecting funds from the National Treasury to build this temple, in verse three he tells us that he has opened up his personal treasury "over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple".  I believe there are times, when God's vision is set so clearly before us, that we will be compelled to personally open up and give abundantly from our own personal treasuries…above everything else we have already provided.

But what happens when we do not have any personal treasuries to give from?

Join us on Sunday Morning at 10:00am to find out.

This week…continue to be generous,

Pastor Jon