Living life Open-Handed

Is this how you live your life?

Or is this?

I only have one day left in my study by Beth Moore entitled, "A Heart Like His" focusing on the life of David. Today we find David concluding his address before the officials and leaders of the nation of Israel. His son Solomon is now King and the days of David on this earth are growing short. If you missed part one of his address, please see yesterdays post.

David has set all things in order for his son to take the throne and the leadership of the people of God. It was God who chose Solomon and He fully equipped him for this role. The only thing he lacked was age and experience. David admonished the leadership to follow and support his young son. And then he does what a well seasoned leader does, he led by example.

David has spent the last several years gathering everything that would be needed to build the temple of God. God had not allowed David to build it himself because "he was a warrior and had shed blood", but he prepared Solomon for the task. Now David stood before the people and said,

"Besides, in my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple: three thousand talents of gold (gold of Ophir) and seven thousand talents of refined silver, for the overlaying of the walls of the buildings, for the gold work and the silver work, and for all the work to be done by the craftsmen. Now, who is willing to consecrate himself today to the LORD ?" 1 Chronicles 29:3-5

David had given his entire life in service and devotion to the Lord. Throughout his life he gave of his time, talent and treasure. And in a final act of leadership and sacrifice he gave his personal treasure back to the Lord.

In response to David's sacrificial act of worship before the Lord, the people joined in the giving. It was overwhelming, spontaneous and courageous as the leaders reached into their pockets and gave whole-heartedly - not giving to David, but to the Lord.

As the leaders gave, the people rejoiced. Praise broke out among the assembly and David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly. Spontaneous praise and worship! David was overwhelmed by the greatness of God and His glory and Majesty. His heart was full of thanksgiving and praise for our glorious God. He ended by saying,

"But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. We are aliens and strangers in your sight, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. O LORD our God, as for all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name, it comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you." 1 Chronicles 29:14-16

David learned a lesson in his lifetime that I hope each of us will learn too. EVERYTHING that you have, that belongs to you, God has placed in your hand. With that wonderful blessing comes a choice. You can close your fist tightly around what you've been given and say, "This is mine". Or you can open up you hand and with thanksgiving, give it back to Him to be used for His glory.

The choice is yours. What I've found in my life is that God cannot put more into a hand that is tightly grasped. With an open hand, the more I give back to God, the more He is able to place in my hand to bless others.

David led the people to give that day and for the first time He witnessed the entire kingdom in unity before God.

Then David said to the whole assembly, "Praise the LORD your God." So they all praised the LORD, the God of their fathers; they bowed low and fell prostrate before the LORD and the king.

Face down in praise before the Lord. What better place to be!

Will you follow the example of the King? Will you live your life with an open hand, ready to give, ready to bless, an example for others? Who knows what God will do in your lifetime.

Sacrifice of Praise

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Hebrews 13:15-16

We have a nifty little chorus that we sing on Sunday’s and it goes like this:

We bring the sacrifice of praise, into the house of the Lord.
We bring the sacrifice of praise, into the house of the Lord.
And we offer up to You, the sacrifices of thanks giving
And we offer up to you, the sacrifices of joy.

When does an offering of praise before our God become a sacrifice of praise? Jill Briscoe in her book “Prayer that Works” writes, “It means that, when you can’t praise God for what he has allowed, you praise Him for who He is despite what he has allowed.”

Job is a man who has given us a living example of this principle. In Job chapter 1 we see that Job is a man who had it all. He was healthy, wealthy and wise. He loved God and God loved him. God even called him “blameless and upright”.

One day Job’s world came crashing in. He lost all that he had except his wife and his health. His wealth, his children, his servants were all GONE, just like that. In chapter 2 Job’s wife suggested that he curse God and die, but Job would not. Instead Job tore his robe and fell to the ground in worship. Then he offered a sacrifice of praise:

At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. Job 1:20-22

It took a real spiritual sacrifice for Job to lay his rising resentment, bitterness and anger on the altar and to chose instead to praise God. He didn't praise God for the circumstance, but he instead praised the God of the circumstance.

When life is not going well, our praise is a costly sacrifice because we have to give up our will, our expectations for His sovereign will. King David said,

“I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." 2 Samuel 24:24

What are you willing to lay down on the altar as a sacrifice of praise?