St Andrews PCEA Church - Nairobi

Weekly faith Booster 62, December 4, 2009

Word for the week:
“I had it in my heart to build a house as a place of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, for the footstool of our God, and I made plans to build it.” [1st Chronicles 28:2]

Thought for the week:
If you think big for yourself, think bigger for the God who helps you think big – then you’ll realize that by thinking bigger, you no longer think big!

Unlike Noah, who was asked to build an ark; unlike Moses who was asked to build the tabernacle; David’s vision was a proactive one. He analyzed his environment and his eyes were opened to the unsettling fact that they stayed in flamboyant houses, but God’s house was completely unbefitting of the Divine. He thus envisioned a house for God. David’s proactivity is a challenge to us, especially our prevalent tendency to participate in God’s activity only upon invitation. In addition to participating in what we are invited to, given our experience of God, we should also be inspired enough to initiate a practice or a project for His Kingdom. 
I imagine that David envisioned for God a house weightier in plan, dearer in cost and greater in majesty than all the glory of the homes of Israel put together. For many the mention of God conjures a small image while contrastingly, the mention of the man or woman they love evokes a big image! In many, the mention of church curves a narrow impression but the mention of the corporation they work for or the business project they are undertaking incites a thick and elevated feel.  

Friend, if you desire a goodly house for yourself – how much more spectacular should you think of the house of God? It is imperative that we reposition our perception of God and His Kingdom so that their mention incites a transcendent and humbling notion that lubricates our knees and flexes our hearts for a bow. If you think big for yourself, think bigger for the God who helps you think big – then you’ll realize that by thinking bigger, you no longer think big! 

When we capture a proactive passion to do engage in a specified practice or undertake a particular project for God and His Kingdom, the holy excitement may charge us towards immediate implementation. While the excitement for the holy is indeed approvable, it is important that we deliberately expose our Kingdom passions to God’s inspiration and listen for any modifications. In David’s case, God reminded him that his was an acceptable plan, but he must adjust his mind and heart by informing his motive with the reality that God is not homeless! 

Another modification for the passion project was that God allowed David permission to the vision, but He distributed the implementation and completion to his son Solomon. Connectedly, David imagined building the Temple in his time, but God calendized it for another time.

Let us always know that undertaking an activity for God requires not only physical ability but also spiritual authenticity. Often, people have given a lot in God’s name on the basis of being rich and endowed. God desires that in our giving there be also spiritual wealth. The reason given for David not building the Temple was not that he was old; or that he did not have a masters in architecture; neither was it that he did not have the management capacity and resource mobilization experience worthy the job. It was that his hands were full of blood. David was clean enough to dream but not clean enough to build. Solomon’s hands were cleaner at the time [though they became quite unclean later!!].

Heaven’s Bureau of Standards vets who will do what – you may dream it, but another will build it. When we invite God to order His way in our desired works, we find that God has particular noble uses for each of our life stories.

And God has this Godly habit of taking up your dream for Him and supporting you to accomplish it. Our proactivity becomes His activity.

“I had it in my heart to build a house as a place of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, for the footstool of our God, and I made plans to build it.” [1st Chronicles 28:2]

Pastor Buri E.