Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus” friends,
Each of us has probably had several ‘defining moments’ in our lifetime. This is an event which is so significant it affected the trajectory of your life, or you are living today with the results of those ‘defining moments’ in your lifetime. Let’s rejoin King David for one of these ‘defining moments’ which not only was very significant in his life and his family, but in the history of the nation of Israel, and in fact, it impacts our world today!
This event follows the leadership structure and selection process which King David amazingly undertook around 975bc and which we looked at yesterday, as recorded in 1 Chronicles 23-27. The significant ‘defining moment’ I’m referring to follows in the very next chapter, 1 Chronicles 28. It took place at a very special gathering of all the key King David appointed leaders of Israel who were described in the chapters yesterday. The record says: “King David summoned all the officials of Israel to assemble at Jerusalem.” (1 Chron. 28:1) We can assume this may have been one of the first gatherings of ALL those in official leadership roles in Israel. I assume that would be several hundred men from all over the land. We don’t know what explanation had been given for this assembly, but it’s fair to assume NOT ONE of these invited leaders would miss this opportunity with King David!
The record of this “defining moment” begins with this: “King David rose to his feet and said: ‘Listen to me, my brothers and my people. I had it in my heart to build a house as a place of rest for the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD our God, and I made plans to build it. But God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for My Name, because you are a warrior and have shed much blood… Of all my sons – and the LORD has given me many – God has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD, over Israel.” (1 Chron. 28:2-5)
I wonder if King David paused here as a rumble ran through the huge throne of leaders before him. This is a defining moment! Do you see why? With this statement King David is announcing that God Himself has declared Israel to be God appointed MONARCHY! While many other nations in history have been monarchy’s and we know of several today, Israel, up until that moment, had been a Kingdom of God’s people with God selecting the leader. Never before had God raised up the son of the leader to continue a family leadership line, a God appointed Monarchy! This had not happened with Moses, nor Joshua, nor Samuel, nor Saul.
And with King David’s next words David made clear this was intended by God to be a “Perpetual Monarchy” not a temporary one! Listen to David’s next words: “God said to me: ‘Solomon your son is the one who will build My house and My courts, for I have chosen him to be My son and I will be his Father. I will establish his kingdom forever IF he is unswerving in carrying out My commands and laws, as is being done at this time.“ (1 Chron. 28:6.7) Oh my goodness friends, can you imagine how these words would have so powerfully impacted all the leaders standing before King David that day? God had not only selected Solomon, from among all David’s sons, to succeed David on the throne of Israel, God was promising to have a very special, personal relationship with Solomon, like a father and son in a monarchy, a King and a royal Prince!
Furthermore, God was making clear that the God appointed Monarchy of David’s family would continue forever IF Solomon, and we presume every succeeding King, would be ‘unswerving in carrying out My commands and laws…” That’s unequivocal, it’s so clear a child could understand the requirements for God’s blessing here. But did you also notice David added this statement, God’s commentary on David’s recent leadership: “as is being done at this time.“ That is so very significant because it means David had returned to following God wholeheartedly in his leadership after his terrible moral failure with Bathsheba!
I think David paused long enough for these powerful words, and the implications which flow from them, to begin to settle into the hearts and minds of the hundreds of leaders who stood before him. But David was far from finished, so let’s listen as David speaks again to the assembly of Israel’s leaders: “So now I charge you in the sight of all Israel, and of the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God: Be careful to follow all the commands of the LORD your God, that you may possess this good land and pass it on as an inheritance to your descendants forever.” (1 Chronicles 28:8) It’s a very powerful thing when leaders are called to accountability and responsibility, isn’t it? Did you notice King David called these leaders to what we might call “360 accountability”?
a) First accountability to ALL the people of Israel. The expectation was that these leaders would model integrity, trustworthiness, reliability, honesty, faithfulness to their charge at all times, in all situations. They would be models for the next generation growing up under their leadership.
b) Second, David calls these leaders to hold each other accountable as fellow leaders of God’s people.
c) Third, David reminds these leaders that they each and all have ultimate accountability to God Himself and God will call them to account having seen and heard and understanding EVERYTHING in each of their lives!
Now friends, I need to ask all of us… what would change in your city and mine, your country and mine if ALL governmental leaders held themselves to those three levels of honest accountability?
Did you also notice David reminded all the leaders to understand that they held the future in their hands? Their children and grandchildren would live with their leadership decisions. It’s easy for us to make the application to our current situation in whatever land you and I live today, isn’t it? Law and Order / National Debt / the moral code of ethics in leadership / and everything else in the condition of your land and mine are all the direct result of current leadership and what they have done with the condition of the land which they inherited and what they are doing with the authority they have to enforce existing laws or improve them with new laws. It begs the question, what are you and I doing with what has been handed to us and what will we leave to our children as we depart?
I think it would be wise to pause right here and ponder the tremendous significance of “defining moments” in our lives and what we’ve learned watching King David in this dramatic moment in Israel’s history. Here’s a worship song to help us and I’ll meet you back here tomorrow as David concludes this remarkable, powerful, ‘State of the Union’ address which changed the course of Israel. What does God want each of us to learn from this moment?
Today’s Scripture: 1 Chronicles 28:1-8.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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