“Wealth and honor come from you, you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.”
– 1 Chronicles 29:12
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you think that life is measured? Do you think that hope can be found? Do you think that death is certain? The Chronicles Books author concludes in his first Chronicles Book – in 1 Chronicles 29, with a forward looking recounting of King David’s final days on planet Earth. After asking his fellow Israelite people group guys and gals to support his kid Solomon when the time arrives for Solomon to replace him as king over them – as his kid would need their help because he was young and inexperienced, David turned his focus on the construction of a palatial structure on a central site in the city of Jerusalem where God would be worshipped corporately and communally. David then told the amassed assembly of his fellow Israelite people group guys and gals that he had been over the years accruing gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, onyx, turquoise, various colored stones and fine stone and marble that he wanted them to use in the building of a temple in the city of Jerusalem where God’s presence could reside and where they were to go to worship God. David at this time donated 3,000 talents of gold and 7,000 talents of refined silver from his immense personal wealth that he had accumulated over his lifetime for craftsmen to use to build a holy place in the city of Jerusalem where God’s presence would reside and where God would be honored and worshipped by God’s specially chosen guys and gals. With the weight of a talent being about 75 pounds, David was donating from in his personal wealth about 225,000 pounds of gold – or 112.5 tons of gold, and 525,000 pounds of silver – or 262.5 tons of silver. $1,539 is today’s price of gold per ounce. 225,000 pounds equals 3,600,000 ounces. The value today of David’s donated gold from his personal wealth is $5,540,400,000. $38.51 is today’s price of silver per ounce. 525,000 pounds equals 8,400,000 ounces. The value today of David’s donated silver from his personal wealth is $323,484,000. When Israelite people group family leaders, tribal clan officers and commanders and David’s officials saw what David had done with his stockpiled wealth, they initiated a special offering that resulted in 5,000 talents and 10,000 darics of gold, 10,000 talents of silver, 18,000 talents of bronze, 100,000 talents of iron and all kinds of precious stones being freely and wholeheartedly given to God by His specially chosen guys and gals for the construction of a magnificent edifice in the city of Jerusalem where His presence would be revered and where He would be blessed with singing and offerings. King Solomon would use literally billions of dollars in today’s economy to construct one of the most awe-inspiring structures that has ever been designed and built.
After assuring the assembled Israelite guys and gals that his kid Solomon would succeed him as their next positioned king and after ensuring the assembled Israelite guys and gals that a remarkably splendid temple would be built for God’s presence to reside in the city of Jerusalem – and where they were to go to worship God, David went on to praise God before this assembly of his compatriot guys and gals. David sums up in verse 12 the significance that he had put on his personal stash of assets, “Wealth and honor come from you, you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.” David had a mindset that God is the proprietor or owner of everything which means that everything is given and/or taken away by God. David had the mindset that he and everyone who has lived, is living and will live on planet Earth were, are and will be aliens and strangers in God’s holy sight because of his and everyone else’s scared and marred DNA brought about by a deceiving fallen angel. David had the mindset that the duration that God set for his and everyone else’s planet Earth’s designated life assignment is just a fleeting, vacuous shadow that is devoid of hope unless . . . David had the mindset that he and everyone else has had and will always have God testing his and their hearts for the purpose of instilling faithfulness.
Have you been pulling a David by settling on mindsets that always brings God the honor and glory that is deserving of Who created the heavens and the earth, that is applauding Who is meticulously unfolding a schematic that has all animate life and inanimate objects always in their choreographed, preprogrammed, ordained places and that is lauding of Who has the greatness and power to design such splendor and such majesty that can be seen in everything from the minutest speck to the magnificence of the universe. Life for a Christ-follower guy, gal and kid on planet Earth is constantly punctuated by showdowns with the fallen angel’s minions and gofers – who the fallen angel is ordering to push an attitude or belief that the consequence is overrated for when a God-mandated directive is compromised by sinning. Death for a besieged Christ-follower guy, gals or kid who has completed his or her God preestablished role on planet Earth is the beginning of an untainted joy filled life in heaven where the reverberating sound of God being joyfully worshipped will forever be heard. Even though your grandpaa was sad when his dad died and then when his ma died, the life celebration moments disguised as funerals for your grandpaa’s dad and then for your grandpaa’s ma were really moments of thanking God for a dad and then for a ma who were always pulling a David through the ways that they lived their daily lives which had them instilling righteous truths and modeling moral lifestyles in their six kids. Who is teaching you how to live a David life while you are living on planet Earth?
1 Chronicles 29 (1165)