Morning

July 28

1 Chronicles 22:5,14 ⁵David said, "My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house to be built for the LORD should be of great magnificence and fame and splendor in the sight of all the nations. Therefore I will make preparations for it." So David made extensive preparations before his death.

¹⁴"I have taken great pains to provide for the temple of the LORD a hundred thousand talents of gold, a million talents of silver, quantities of bronze and iron too great to be weighed, and wood and stone. And you may add to them.

Before David's death he had one great vision. He wanted to prepare everything for a house of God, the temple. The tabernacle (tent of meeting) had served the purpose of a place to meet and worship up until this time. Now that they had settled and defeated their enemies, a fixed place could be constructed. David was not allowed to build it because of all the blood he had shed in battle. The house of the LORD was to be a place of peace. But David didn't just leave it all up to his son, Solomon. He did all that he could to amass the materials and laborers and create the plans.

The record of the amount of materials collected is staggering! David gave it his all. In life we will have God given desires that we cannot work directly on. That does not mean we cannot give and help in many ways. David appointed singers, made instruments, wrote psalms, appointed construction workers, imported materials and many other things that became a part of the temple, even though he would never see it. Most of the fruit from a surrendered life will not be seen in our lifetime. Only the view from eternity will tell the real tale of our life's investment in heaven.

David invited his son to add even more. He was not making a monument to self. He wanted the very best for the worship of God, and the more added the better. He encouraged others to give to the great cause. Though that building was temporal, it was a picture of an eternal one.

Consider: How much more zealous should we be to see the temple of living stones built!