“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.  I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity.  All these things have I given willingly and with honest intent.  And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you.  O Lord, God of our fathers Abraham, Issac and Israel, keep this desire in the hearts of your people forever, and keep their hearts loyal to you.  And give my son Solomon the wholehearted devotion to keep your commands, requirements and decrees and to do everything to build the palatial structure for which I have provided.”  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.  1 Chronicles 29:10

How do I understand God’s awesomeness by looking in to the words and deeds of David?  Re-read, if you would please the passage above and see a man, not a god or demigod.  A man who had done his best to live his life for God, knowing fully well that he had failed but in that failure found humility.  A man who is said to be after God’s heart, who is himself apparently amazed that God would find any pleasure in being given, as homage, objects we deem treasure in order to demonstrate our willingness to honor his name.  Then we see God’s true awesomeness in David’s prayer to keep our hearts faithful to the Almighty and that his son would be faithful in fulfillment of his duties to build the temple for God.

I see in this moment the precarious nature of this life, its glory and its folly.  That we humans can for instants shine in our likeness to God and then quickly depart from that attention to once again fall into disloyalty, false pride and idle workings.  How can we maintain such understanding and as David live to a good old age ever mindful of God’s generosity, kindness and love?  It is all his and he gives to us freely for the asking, if we will only believe.  He even provides for the unbeliever, not just the ones who will eventual seek truth, but for those who have no intention of choosing righteousness.  This is the God that we serve, the lover of all and sustainer of life.  Lest we forget his holiness and our feet fall on insubstantial ground, let us remember David’s last words to the whole assembly, “Praise the Lord your God.”  David may have doubted his people but he still had faith, faith that the Lord our God would deliver us even from our own misgivings into lives of righteousness and subsequent works of Spirit and Truth.

Lord, with all that you have given me, even to this life, I praise you.  Come Lord Jesus, come.  Amen