Truth in Action ~ 1 Chronicles 28

“As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever. Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be strong and do it.” 1 Chronicles 28:9-10 NASB

              Throughout my life I have received much advice.  Some good, some bad, some wise, and some foolish.  And at different points in my life, depending on my level of spiritual maturity, I have utilized all and seen their results deliver as expected. However, at this point in my life I can tell you, not all advice and counsel are equal.  You see, as one seeks the truth, locates their interpretation of the truth, and then proceeds to process their own truth, they issue forth advice, counsel, and guidance from that truth.  The question is, what and where is your truth found?  For there is, and can only be, one truth.

              King David is referred to in God’s Word as no other man was, as "a man after God’s own heart." (1 Samuel 13:14).  But for a human to attempt to understand God’s heart is an asinine task indeed.  But we can attempt to observe and peer into the life of David and analyze the heart we displayed in the scriptures.  And as we do observe the life of the man that walked in the heart rhythms that followed God’s own, we see a pattern that recklessly follows one guideline…no matter his station of life, circumstance, or hardship, David never gives up seeking God.

              We are all seeking something.  Most times we are seeking numerous things at the same time.  Wealth, power, self-satisfaction, prestige, self-importance, elevation above others, and personal individuality, can and are, sought by billions of souls in the world today.  And of those individuals many, including Christians, are seeking God in addition to those mentioned above.  Consider it sort of a buffet line of truth seeking where whatever looks good to the eyes are all tossed onto the same plate for consumption.  But for David, a man that was ever so close to hearing God’s heartbeat within his own, he had a singular vision in his life pursuit.  To know God, to serve God, to seek God, to be with God, and to be obedient to what God spoke to Him.  And out of that tireless pursuit of God, we see King David, at the end of his life, issue the peak of fatherly advice to his son Solomon.  He shares his “secret to success.”

              To truly process our study passage above, you must process the verbs held within it.  After all, verbs are action, and a life fully dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ will be a life in action for Him, His glory, and the growth of His kingdom.  And those verbs call us to know, serve, seek, and be searched by God. 

To “know” (v 9) God is not an accident.  Are you diligently pouring over God's Word to learn more about a God that reveals Himself through His Words to this world?  Are you daily engaged in a prayer life that sees you crying out to the Lord for His wisdom (above yours) in all of your situations?  You see, to know someone requires time, intentionality, and proximity and knowing God is no different.  To “serve” (v 9) is a verb that calls the mind to immediate physical action.  And serving the Lord and His kingdom can be as varied as cloud shapes on a blue summer day.  The Lord made you to serve Him.  The question is, will you serve yourself, attempting to personally reap the benefits of those Godly gifts, or will you instead launch into the action of using your God-given gifts to serve the Lord, advance His kingdom, and glorify His Holy name?  To “seek” (v 9) the Lord brings to mind the way in which we might desperately seek for something of value that has been lost.  If you lost all the money in your bank account today, how desperately would you be seeking its return?  Expand that question to include how desperately you are seeking the face of the Lord today.  Was He the first thing you sought this morning or did the demands of kids, work, and your problems quickly and easily crowd Him out?  You see, one of the most powerful promises in all of God’s Word rest in the action of seeking Him:

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13 (italics mine)

              But within our study verse above lies another powerful verb where the action lies not in the hands of the reader, but of Almighty God; “search” (v 9).  David, above all others, knew that the very Hand that created a heart that likened God’s own, would know it and search it.  The question that rings in the ears louder than an ancient church bell is…as God searches your heart today, what will He find?  As David lived with this constant question embedded within his heart, we find a tremendous revelation from Him in the 139th Psalm:

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:23-24

              Here David took the verb that lied in God’s hand, reversed it, and made it his own verb.  Instead of seeing God’s act of searching his heart as invasive or obtrusive, David instead, invited it in.  What a glorious picture of a healthy relationship with the Lord.  A life that is splayed open as wide as a wound for the Lord to inspect and correct.  David knew from harsh experiences with sin in his life that those sins could not be hidden from the Lord and simply walked away from.  As a result, David readily invited the inspection and correction of his God.

              Folks, these very same verbs lie before you in this moment as you are reading this.  And they are calling out to you to take action.  To “know” God through a daily study and meditation of His Words and through a powerful prayer life calling out to Him in your constant weakness.  To “serve” Him with the gifts He has given you…in and any and all ways.  To “seek” him as desperately as you would desperately seek thirst-quenching water in the midst of a desert expanse.  And to not react to the Lord searching your heart, but instead, readily invite Him to search the depths of your being and correct your path.  You see, the power of the Godly verb lies in the heart of the one that is willing to expend the energy, exert the force, and move beyond the comfort of rest and claim its promise.

May you today, heed the good advice of king David and follow the same verbs his heart followed.

Blessings to you ~ Dan

“Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future. Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” Proverbs 19:20-21

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” James 1:5

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