Courage - Day 2 (1 Chronicles 28:10)

Sorry about not having this up yesterday -- My Bad! The day got busy on me and I apologize to anyone who may have noticed, but most likely just for my guilty conscience.

1 Chronicles 28:10
"Take heed now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary. Be strong and do it!"

The first thing that really struck me as noteworthy is that God chooses specific people for different tasks. In this case, Solomon is building a temple for the Lord. He was chosen specifically to perform that task. In my life, this translates to me starting as a missionary at UNC. The point is, God doesn't just randomly select people or change His mind. He doesn't make mistakes. So, if He's calling you to do something, He has been preparing you (or will prepare you) for that task at hand. Moreover, if you resist Him and don't do it, He still has that plan for you.

I listened to a podcast on regrets by Steven Furtik at Elevation Church in Charlotte. He had some really good points when talking about regretting things that might have been (the "what if..." type regrets). One of the things that really stuck with me is that God is more like GPS and less like MapQuest. If you're following a GPS while you drive, it will speak to you and warn you of upcoming turns. If you miss the turn anyway, it recalculates a new route. It doesn't care at all about where you were, and only cares about your destination. If God has something in mind for you, it doesn't matter if you took some wrong turns (He actually knew you were going to do that -- He's God), He will get you to where He has called you to go! (Massive digression that wasn't there when I first wrote this...)

Anyhow, knowing that God calls specific people to specific tasks is reassuring to me because I know that God has brought me here for this reason, and has appointed me to this task. Not only does this mean that He has been preparing me for it (despite my unawareness and sometimes in spite of myself), but also that there is nobody else that is meant to fill this role. In the words of Steven Furtik, "I am Gods #1 draft pick." A surprising, but comforting observation.

The next thought that occurs is the part where it says "take heed now," implying urgency to one's actions and thoughts in aligning to God's will. Not to resist or deny His callings, or even to delay in following them. If God speaks something, get on board! Start working now for this is what God wants to do with you, and the safest place to be is walking in God's will.

Next, we see it says Solomon was "to build," implying definite action. Granted, there was a lot of preparation to be done, but God provided a very definite course of action. I think it is wise to wait until this path is provided (at least the next step) before one begins trying to pursue it -- don't just wander aimlessly. That said, one must also be very honest with themselves that they are waiting because they do not know the next step, rather than because they are proud or afraid.

If we look a few verses earlier in 1 Chron 28:7-9, we see a similarity with yesterday's reading as the scripture emphasizes blessing and success under the conditions that Solomon knows and applies God's word. This is important, because the verses close by saying "Be strong and do it!" This suggests the task ahead will not be easy. If the task were easy or if one who were weak would be able to do it, there would be no need for this command. Moreover, it seems to serve as a warning not to give up, implying this task will require something of us.

Finally, an interesting thought is that Solomon was chosen specifically to build the Temple of the Lord, or "a house for the sanctuary." The "sanctuary" is where the Spirit of the Lord would dwell in the Old Testament. Essentially, God's Spirit on earth. What is interesting is that in the New Testament, after Jesus was crucified as a sacrifice for all of our sins, scripture indicates that the Holy Spirit lives inside of each of us who hold the divinity of Jesus as truth. This means that today, we are the sanctuary -- the place where the Spirit of the Lord lives on earth. And again, God calls each one of us to build a house for the sanctuary. We are to live in a way that glorifies God, respecting our body, for our body is His Spirit's dwelling place on this earth today.