1 Chr 22:16, 19

1 Chronicles 22:16 ESV

    "...Arise and work! The LORD be with you!"

 

1 Chronicles 22:19 ESV

     "Now set your mind and heart to seek the LORD your God. Arise and build the sanctuary of the LORD God..."

 

"I'm blessed with work."  A frequent quote I normally associate with healthy old people.  Fortunately there are some younger men and women who give the same testimony.  How is it then that someone can be 'blessed with work'?  Shouldn't it be 'blessed with fun, money, time, etc'?

 

When we get to work we are blessed in the following ways:

 

1.  We have the health to work: 'nuff said!

2.  We have the opportunity to do something productive, something is getting done.

3.  We have the opportunity to be creative, to make something that is an extension of us.

4.  We have the opportunity to serve the Lord.

 

David told Solomon to work and in this working also gave his son the blessing: 'the Lord be with you!'  Here is the blessing: you get all the blessings I mentioned above (only a very short list of the many) and in teh blessing we also have the presence of the Lord, which is of course the most valuable blessing in the universe!  Amen!

 

Then David spoke to the Elders of Israel charging them because his son Solomon was so young to continue in the work as well.  This time David was a little more specific: 'set your mind and heart to seek the Lord...arise and build'.  Seeking the Lord is another way of stating the most important commandment in the Bible: 'love the Lord your God...'.  And among the many ways we must daily seek the Lord (prayer, Bible study, fellowship, service and outreach) David added an important one: work.  Specifically here to build an ediface to honor God but I think it would not be any less honoring for you and I to build instead of one of the wonders of the ancient world to build a good small group, a good ministry to the less fortunate in town, to build a welcoming home for believers and those who don't yet trust Jesus alike.

 

You can obey the command of David to his son and take part in the blessing the king gave by finding for your hands work.  The command of the Sabbath remains (perhaps we'll talk about that sometime); but don't forget that the command of the Sabbath is to rest one day and to work six: don't fail in one because you are mindful of the second.

 

Praise You Father for work.

Praise You Son for completing the most important work.

Praise You Spirit for showing us our work.

 

Working together with you,

Pastor Greg