As David began to prepare Solomon to sit upon his throne and to become the wisest king in the history of Israel, he gave him the secret to all of his success.
David reigned at times with great wisdom and at times with selfish desires, but there was something that he had that he knew his son required… and it’s something that we require.
1 Chron 28:9 “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father…
David wanted Solomon to “know” the God that he knew. In Hebrew that word is yada, and it carries the broadest meaning: to acknowledge, to be acquainted with, to comprehend, to discover, to be a familiar friend with, to make like or to understand. David had learned through many hard lessons that before he was able to serve his God he had to know Him. He knew that the key to Solomon’s successful reign over Israel depended upon his knowing the God of David. And David is telling us the same thing.
1 Chron 28:9… and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind…
We must know our God before we can serve Him, just as Daniel did:
Dan 11:32… but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action. ESV
When we “truly know” the Lord we don’t want to do anything other than serve Him. But if we don’t know Him our service becomes a burden and legalistic. It will ultimately just become “works.” It doesn’t make any difference who we are or what position we hold in our church, bible study group or our family. If we don’t first “know” Him we won’t be able to serve Him. We can become so busy serving that we no longer have time to just sit with Him. That’s when we find ourselves in trouble.
There are many ways to serve the Lord that are not with a perfect heart. The prophet Malachi spoke those words over Israel when they were sacrificing bulls and rams that were leftovers, the ones that were blind, lame and sick; not the first and the best (Mal 1:8). He asked Israel a key question: Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor?
We need to ask ourselves that question; what are we presenting to the Lord? We can do the same thing with out time, our energy, our talents or anything else we bring. As Isaiah said, we can draw near to Him with our lips but our not with our heart (Isa 29:13). And Jesus told us that we can even serve our Lord with an evil heart and our service will be worthless (Matt 6:1-2).
We need to pause every day and meditate on the reason David gave to Solomon for his wisdom:
1 Chron 28:9… for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever. ESV
There’s the answer and the promise… If we seek Him He will be found. David shared that secret with Solomon and James shared it with us: Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you (James 4:8 a).
So let’s not let our service become what takes priority in our life. We need to follow the advice Jesus’ gave us in His sermon on the mount… He also shared the secret:
Matt 6:33-34 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. ESV
I was glancing through one of Diane’s magazines this morning that showed the insides of some old country homes. I saw an old chalkboard on a kitchen wall that summed up the secret of how we are to “know” the God of David, our God… Yesterday is history – Tomorrow is a mystery – Today is a gift