God’s Word for You

1 Chronicles 28:8-10 Thoughts, sacred and profane

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Tuesday, May 14, 2024

8 “Now, in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God: Keep and follow all the commandments of the LORD your God, that you may possess this good land and pass it on as an inheritance to your descendants forever.

Verse 8 seems strange to some translators. Shouldn’t there be some verb of command that David speaks, such as “Now, in the sight of all (etc.), I command you…” or “I urge you” or “I charge you”? No. There is no such verb in the Hebrew text. It might be understood that way, but it’s better if we take the verse as it is. David is telling Solomon, “Do these things in the sight of all Israel.” What things? “Keep and follow all the commandments.”

What leader strives to keep the Ten Commandments? A man is more apt to search diligently for loopholes and exceptions to the Commandments. To strive to keep them? How many people even know them all by heart? A study of the basics of Christianity—the main parts of the Small Catechism—are the study of a lifetime. Oh, it can be memorized by a Fifth Grader. But to understand the whole counsel of God takes time, prayer, and study.

For example, the Lord commands: “You shall have no other gods.” This means we are to avoid every kind of idolatry. To avoid them, it would help to identify at least some forms of idolatry so that we are not misled into something unawares. When the Lord gave his people the Commandments, he gave them an example from the tribes of Canaan that they were about to meet: “an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below” (Exodus 20:4). But there are other idols besides those heathen idols. There is also the idolatry of Judaism that rejects Christ, the Messiah. And there are those who reject Christ in favor of some false Christ or some path to heaven apart from Christ. Then there is the love of money or power. And there is also the adoration of science or other disciplines that take the place of God in the heart. Then there is the idolatry of rejecting all religion: atheism. And finally (or at least seventh—there could be more I have not thought of) there is the idolatry of the Self, when one’s opinion becomes more valuable and more precious than God’s holy will.

Those who know the Scriptures already will say, “Listen, Solomon! Listen to your father David and do not let your heart be stolen away from God by your heathen and pagan wives!” But even as we go wagging our fingers at Solomon, we must learn to wag those fingers at ourselves. For the true life of the believer is a life of repentance, of turning back to Christ for forgiveness again and again. The Old Adam must be drowned by daily contrition and repentance. If we let ourselves drift away from devotion, study, prayer, and repentance, we will find ourselves adrift, blown every which way by the fickle winds of the hateful world, and we will run the terrible danger of becoming double-minded about our faith. From this, dear Lord, defend us! From this, good Lord, guard us and keep us!

9 And you, Solomon my son, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with your whole heart and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands what is behind each of our thoughts. If you seek him, he will let you find him. If you forsake him, he will cast you away forever. 10 Consider now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a house for the holy place. Be strong and do the work.”

What a marvelous insight David gives into the penetration of God into the way we think! Even as a man prays, the Lord hears and is aware of all of the motivations we have for each and every word. There are things that even we ourselves are unaware of, selfish thoughts, covetous thoughts, sinful thoughts and designs. But there they are, hidden behind the pillars of the temple of the Holy Spirit, slipped behind even the motives of our prayers, there are shadows of the Old Adam that loom and menace our faith. But at the same time (for surely he forgives us for the sake of Christ and overlooks our sinfulness for his sake) there are other things “behind each of our thoughts.” There are good things, as well. There are kind and generous impulses, acts of charity or generosity that he is aware of in us, things we just can’t imagine how to do. But he knows. He understands.

He understood David’s desire to provide a house, a place to worship. David conceived of something that Israel had not conceived of before: A temple of stone to the Lord. God had not commanded it, but he used David’s idea to his glory. A tent could be stolen or ripped to shreds, but a stone temple could also be burned. Both could be plundered. But the temple David was imagining would be large, very large. It would be large enough that many people could be instructed in the word of God at the same time here and there even while the sacrifices were roasting on the huge bronze altar.

There are things you and I may glimpse in only the crudest possible way, but God sees into our hearts; he loves our cherished thoughts of faith. And the Holy Spirit fills in the gaps, giving shape to our ideas as well as our prayers, and best of all, interceding on our behalf in accordance with God’s will (Romans 8:27). By ourselves, left to the Old Adam and the sinful human nature, God knows how great our wickedness is, “and that every inclination of man’s thoughts are only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5). But now that the spark of faith has come, now that our sinfulness has been washed clean in the water of baptism, and now that we are cleansed and purified in the blood of Jesus, there are some thoughts that are good, holy, and worthy. Worthy, not on our account, but worthy on account of Christ. Holy, not because we are holy but because we are covered by the robe of Christ’s righteousness. Good, not because anything in us is good at all or in any way, except that faith has come, and God’s own goodness, righteousness, and his great and holy value is poured into us through the means of grace, the gospel in word and the gospel in the sacraments, and we respond to his love with love of our own; love driven by faith. Our thoughts are futile (Psalm 94:11), but the thoughts of Almighty God are profound (Psalm 92:5). But he eases our anxious thoughts (Psalm 139:23) and shares his own precious thoughts with us in his holy word (Psalm 139:17). The more we meditate on them, the more they will surface in our own minds, in our own lives, and become swift and ready blossoms in the garden of each believer’s life of faith.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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