Vision

This weekend was a time to really get in the word, to meditate on Christ, to relax, and to listen. It's in that silence that you can hear God's voice, and I finally had the chance to listen.

I've been reading in I Chronicles and I finished it this weekend. For the final chapters of the book, David is doing pretty much everything he can to prepare for the building of the temple without actually doing it--amassing large amounts of gold, silver, and timber, and even giving the gold and silver of his personal treasury for the task. At the end of the book, David is giving Solomon pretty specific instructions on how to build the temple. What's interesting and heartbreaking is that Solomon builds the temple, but it is inferred that it is less of the size than David had expected it to be. Also, Solomon uses these resources to build a temple to himself as well, in the form of a royal palace.

What stood out to me were the final words David spoke to his son, when he tells Solomon, "Get to know the God of your ancestors. Worship him and serve him with your whole heart and with a willing mind. For the LORD sees every heart and understands and knows every plan and thought. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. So take this seriously. The LORD has chosen you to build a Temple as his sanctuary. Be strong, and do the work."

Solomon asked for the wisdom of God, and he recieved it in many ways, but he never took his father's advise; he never truly knew God as his father David knew him. By the end of his life, Solomon had taught his sons to follow false gods, Israel was in chaos, and the kingdom was divided because Solomon forgot the LORD. Jedediah, the beloved of God, wasted what he was given and destroyed a nation because he chose not to know the Lord.

In this life, our kingdoms will fall before the throne of God. We have a choice to serve him whole-heartedly and with all of who we are, or we can choose to forget him and live for ourselves. We can mask our activities, building our own palaces alongside of his temples, or we can let our kingdoms fall to him and watch the sovereign LORD build an eternal work in us. My prayer this weekend has been--and God willing will remain--to follow the Lord as David did, with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and that all of who I am would be surrendered to him.

So clearly I see that choice before me: to live for myself, or to live for Christ. I can mask my activities by building my palaces alongside the temple of God, or I can seek first the Kingdom of God and let him take care of the rest. May my kingdoms fall to you, O God, that I may know you in your fullness and walk with you always! My heart was made for intimacy with you above all; lead me to you heart.