I Chronicles 29:14 But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of thee, and of thine own hand have we given thee
It seems to me there are two kinds of travelers in this world. There is the farmer and the hobo. A farmer is used to having all his supplies right where he is. He has milk cows, chickens that lay eggs, hogs, and a field full of crops. When he travels, consequently, he think he needs to take all of that with him so he can be in supplies. A farmer is a person who does not travel lightly. He takes everything, including the kitchen sink, because you never know when you might need that. I’m surprised how often I think I’m packing lightly for a trip and still have garments I never touch in a two-week period.
On the other hand, you have the hobo. This is the person who, like a hobo taking the rails across the country, has a stick across his shoulder with a knapsack attached that holds all he needs for his entire life. I remember picking up a fellow preacher at the airport in Phoenix one time. He was going to be in three or four different places in as many days and he only had one little bag for the entire trip. He was like a hobo. So, you’ve got both kinds of travelers.
In life the same can be true. David was preparing the temple for God and he was preparing a son, Solomon, who would actually construct that temple. David realized something very important: you lighten the load when you give it to God. David was travelling light. Now David was a king with a palace, servants, and many possessions, but speaking to God in I Chronicles 29:14 David asks, “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of thee, and of thine own hand have we given thee.” David realized that all the silver, gold, and other things he was giving for the construction of the temple was from God’s hand to begin with.
David’s giving for this project was called “great,” “of his own,” and “over and above,” yet David realized that you can’t give God anything that God did not give you first. The very breath I breathe is from God. The gifts and talents I have are from God. Yes, I may exert hard work and be a good steward of what I have been given. But David realized that all the things he had amassed for the construction of the temple were of God. Again, in verse 16 he says that all this “cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own.
There is a sense in which I cannot be generous with God. I can only be honest because everything I might give God, whether my talents or possessions, have been given me because of what God has provided. So, you lighten the load when you give it to God. That is certainly true with money, and it is also true with ambition. David was a man who had a heart to build a great temple to God Jehovah. It was a noble ambition and seemed to be a spiritual ambition, but it wasn’t God’s idea.
In I Chronicles 28, David said, “Hear me, my brethren, and my people: As for me, I had in my heart to build an house…for…God…But God said to me, Thou shalt not build an house…Solomon thy son, he shall build my house.” Sometimes we have all these ambitions, but we need to realize that our ambitions, like our possessions, need to be given to God. When we give our ambitions to God, God doesn’t squelch our animation and energy for life. God clarifies our life. He gives us the ambitions we ought to have that match with our gifting and for our purpose on this planet. So, David was ambitious but he was a man who learned when he had an ambition that was not of God to say, “Ok, I will let Solomon built the temple. I will do my part.”
What was David’s part? Well, as soon as God told David he would not be the one to build the temple, the Bible talks about David’s battles. David’s battles led to Solomon’s building. That is to say, all the silver and gold we read about in I Chronicles 29 came because David did what David could do and let Solomon to do what God had given Solomon to do. That is what David gave to God.
Again, in I Chronicles 28:5-6, David said that God “hath chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.” What kingdom? The kingdom of the Lord. It was Israel he was talking about, but is was God’s kingdom. David was merely someone who occupied the throne for a finite amount of time. He was a steward.
In verse 6 David said, “And he said unto me, Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts: for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.” In other words, David realized that his money, ambitions, and even his son had been given him by God, and you lighten the load when you give it to God. We don’t need to worry when God can take what we have and make something more of it than we ever could.
For whom was David preparing? Well, in verse 15 David says, “For we are strangers before thee, God and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.” So, David was preparing for Solomon to do the work that God had given him, but ultimately David was preparing for the Lord. You see, there may be a lot of responsibilities you have today, but you lighten your load when you give it to God.