Your Daily Devotional for July 17, 2006

 

July 17, 2006

 

From His Heart to Our Hands

by Dr. Paul Chappell

 

 

“Then David the king stood up upon his feet, and said, Hear me, my brethren, and my people: As for me, I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building: Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of mine own proper good, of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house.”

 

I Chronicles 28:2, 29:3

 

Helen Keller was once asked what could be worse than being born blind. She calmly answered, “Being born with sight, but having no vision.” Friends, today in these verses we see David’s vision for the work of God. He wanted to build a resting place for the Ark of the Covenant and a place of worship for the people of Israel. He had a burden to build this temple in the final days of his life.

 

God did not allow him to build the temple because he was a man of war, but He allowed his son Solomon to build it. In the first verse, we see that David had opened his heart: “As for me, I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD.”

 

Not only was David willing to open his heart but David was also willing to open his hands. The second verse says, “Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of mine own proper good, of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house.” David gave his own wealth and possessions to further the work of the Lord.

 

When God affects your heart, your hands will be opened. In order for God’s work to be furthered for His glory, we each must be willing to let God work in our hearts and open our hands. We need to release everything that we have in our hands and reach out to God for Him to fill our hands.

 

When my daughter Kristine was younger, I remember her coming up to me one day, crying hysterically. I could tell by the look on her face that she was in pain so I began trying to see if I could find the problem. I didn’t see any skinned knees or elbows or any cuts, so I began to try to calm her down. Finally, I noticed that she had her hand tightly grasped in a fist. When I asked her about it, she told me that she had a splinter in her hand. I went and got the tweezers and a needle to try to get it out, but the minute she saw that needle she started crying even more and would not open her hand for me. No matter how much I wanted to help her, she would not let me get that splinter out.

 

Most Christians’ hands are tightly closed to God. They do not realize that we have a Heavenly Father who asks us to open our hands so He can replenish and provide for us. All we must do is trust Him and open our hands. If we keep our hands tightly closed to God’s blessings, we can never see His work done through our lives. Why would you want to hold on to the little things of this world when you could have all the blessings of Heaven?

 

Friend, what are you holding onto today? What is so important to you that you will not give it up to better serve God? God wants you to let go of those things and to look to Him to fill your hands. The Apostle Paul said it this way in Philippians 3:13, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.” Ask God to empty your life of the trivial things and to fill your life with His blessings today.

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