Today's reading is the last chapter in I Chronicles. Tomorrow begins about a month of reading Psalms 107 to 138 then continues in II Chronicles in Mid September.
Chapter 29 begins with Gifts for the building of the temple verses 1-9. David itemizes the materials given as gifts for the temple. David gave gifts and so did leaders and families in Israel. Gifts were given willingly, which is how our attitude should be when giving to God.
Verses 10-13 - David prays a prayer of praise in the presence of the whole assembly. Enduring Word commentary says verse 10 is the first time the bible refers to God as Father. How affirming it must have been for David's people to pray a prayer of praise like this!
Verses 14-20 David continues the prayer being thankful for everything God has given us, and we can give back to God. David gives with joy, as men have before him, and he prays that his nation will continue to do so. He asks that Solomon will also have the whole hearted devotion to keep his commands. Verse 20 David says to the whole Assembly "Praise the Lord your God" and they did. They bowed low and fell prostrate before the Lord and King.
Reading this makes me realize a different side to the separation of church and state. In America we have the freedom to worship in any way we choose but the leaders of our government cannot lead in a public prayer such as David did. This saddens me a little. I have to admit I don't want to be forced to worship a specific religion, but saddened in the fact that leaders of our country need to be very careful regarding prayer during public events, for fear of offending segments of the population. In the current news - Muslims want to build a mosque near the New York Twin Towers Ground Zero location and there is much debate going regarding this. So much emotion. How do we peacefully sort this out? We can privately pray for God's wisdom in this situation. My intent here is not to get political, but to reflect upon King David of Israel's dream to build a temple for the Lord and he can freely build, pray and praise God for all he has done before his nation.
Verses 21-25 The next day they made sacrifices to God, and they ate and drank with great joy in celebration. Solomon was acknowledged as king for the second time. I Chronicles does not go into detail the first time Solomon was made king. That can be found in I Kings. I Chronicles theme is to unify God's people, and to teach genuine worship needs to be at the center of our individual and national life.
Verses 26-30. David dies. David was the son of Jesse, King of Israel. He ruled for 40 years and lived a long life. His son Solomon succeeded him as king. This is like a short obituary notice in the paper. The events of David's life are recorded by Samuel, Nathan and Gad. These three authors detail David's life.
Father God, this chapter reminds me to day what an awesome God you are - you are the Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end. I come to you today with words I cannot seem to put on paper but I know you know my heart. David's prayer of praise is far more eloquently expressed that I could ever verbalize. We thank you for seeing this side of David in I Chronicles - a man after God's own heart. We do not see the details of his sins but see that he does sin and repents, turns to you. We all sin, and we can all repent and continue to worship and honor you. One of David's dreams was to build you a temple but he listened to you and made provisions for his son to build the Temple, because that was your plan. We see all the praise David expresses to you for being our God before his nation. I am thankful I can freely worship you in America. In Jesus name we pray.Amen.
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