David Bahn – Reflections

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These devotions are part of the Follow the Word Bible reading program at St. John Lutheran Church in Cypress, Texas. This year we are reading through the Scriptures together, listening for how God speaks through his Word day by day. I hope you will join me on this journey.

Today’s readings are 1 Chronicles 28-29, 1 Kings 1, Psalm 127.

1 Chronicles 28:7-19

Therefore David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: “Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. ¹¹ Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. ¹² Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to makl[lle great and to give strength to all. ¹³ And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.

¹⁴ “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. ¹⁵ For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding. ¹⁶ O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own. ¹⁷ I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you. ¹⁸ O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you. ¹⁹ Grant to Solomon my son a whole heart that he may keep your commandments, your testimonies, and your statutes, performing all, and that he may build the palace for which I have made provision.”

I remember praying for many years that God would multiply the offerings of his people so the mission of the church could continue. The three congregations I served at the time were small, and some weeks the offerings barely covered the cost of keeping the doors open. I do not remember often praying as David does here: “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly?” (1 Chronicles 29:14).

David’s prayer comes after the people had gathered an extravagant offering for the building of the temple. David himself had led the way, giving from his personal treasury “3,000 talents of gold… and 7,000 talents of refined silver.” That was in addition to what he had already been set aside from the royal treasury.

What strikes me is that David did not primarily see the offering as a financial necessity, but as a privilege. He recognized that everything already belonged to the LORD. “All things come from you,” David says, “and of your own have we given you.”

That is quite different from the way offerings are sometimes perceived. One of my worship professors jokingly described the offering as “the involuntary lifting of the alms.” He was not serious, of course — just engaging in the sort of inside humor pastors sometimes share. But there are people who do view the offering as little more than pressure or obligation. Others complain that the church talks too much about money.

True Christian giving, however, is not a shakedown, nor an attempt to bargain with God for greater blessings. It is the joyful response of faith. As Paul writes, giving is not to be “under compulsion,” but done freely and cheerfully (2 Corinthians 9:7).

Interestingly, David’s final offering in this account is not gold or silver, but prayer. He prays for Solomon, asking that his son would walk faithfully before the LORD and succeed in building the temple.

And ultimately, the temple God desires is not merely a building of stone, wood, gold, and silver. It is his people – those redeemed by Christ and built together into a holy dwelling place for God. Through faith, praise, prayer, and acts of love for neighbor, we offer ourselves back to the One who first gave everything – daily bread, purpose and meaning, forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life through his Son.

All that we have – and all that we are – comes from him.