1 Chronicles 29:1-9.
“Then King David said to the whole assembly: ‘My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. The task is great, because this palatial structure is not for man but for the Lord God. With all my resources I have provided for the temple of my God – gold for the gold work, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron and wood for the wood, as well as onyx for the settings, turquoise, stones of various colors, and all kinds of fine stone and marble—all of these in large quantities. 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?’
“Then the leaders of families, the officers of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of the king’s work gave willingly. They gave toward the work on the temple of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze and a hundred thousand talents of iron. Any who had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the temple of the Lord in the custody of Jehiel the Gershonite. The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the Lord. David the king also rejoiced greatly.”
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Now, to give you a clue as to what is going on here…THIS IS A HUGE POINT IN ISRAELITE HISTORY!!!!! David has wanted to build a temple so that the people would have a place to worship God. Up until this point, the Israelite people have been moving around and the Ark of the Covenant has not had a stable, set place for it to rest. And after wanting to build the temple that God was to rest upon, he was told that he would not be the one to do it! Solomon would be the one to do the building. So, instead of building…David had collected all of the materials necessary to build it. And he dedicated them all to the building of the Temple and made them holy unto the Lord.
Now…we have all these things to build the temple –all the materials…so who are we going to put
in charge of keeping all this stuff!?!?! If you remember in the Scripture, it was a weird name—Jehiel the Gershonite!
So, how did HE get chosen? We really don’t know much about this Jehiel. His name is only mentioned in a line of lineage and here in this story. He is a Gershonite, which means that he is a part of the Levites-which are a people provided for by the Israelites. So…he is an ordinary guy – not much claim to fame! He may have had some experience, but really…he was probably chosen just because he was willing. He was willing to take a risk and do something that is a hard job knowing that God would be there with him.
We are chosen too! We are ordinary people…we aren’t the president! We have normal clothes and we work in normal places with other ordinary people. HOWEVER…we have been called to share the good news of Jesus Christ! You may have some experience. But are you willing to take a risk, even if you don’t know what you are doing? Are you willing to use the gifts and talents that God has given you to share the news of Jesus – who went around teaching others about the kingdom of God, who never sinned, who always had His mind toward God, who was willing to do whatever the Father asked of Him even if it meant dying on a cross for the wrong He never committed! Are you willing to share the news that on that third day, Jesus rose from the grave alive more than ever! And that He is coming back!
I live out in the country. This time of year, I see a lot of turtles crossing the road. Actually, I don’t really see them moving. They always seem to hide in their shell. I did see one turtle a long time ago that was actually moving around!!! AND…even when I passed him driving, he didn’t hide! I was very excited, though that was only one turtle out of how many that I passed??? I was curious on why turtles are always in their shell when I pass them on the highway. And it is because they are scared or sleeping!!!
Are you a turtle? Are you one who likes to hide in your shell? You may be saying, “Well, Samantha, I am not a turtle, so therefore I don’t have a shell!” But, then I would reply, “Yes, you do.” What is your shell? Where do you make yourself comfortable? Is it in the pew at church? (because I find those things very uncomfortable!) Is it inside your home? Is it behind your desk at work? Is it in your bed?
Won’t you take a risk and get out of your shell? Don’t be ashamed of who God made you to be! God wants you to help Him share the gospel! But to do that, you’ll need to get out of your shell. God doesn’t call us to stay in our shells; a turtle that stays in its shell isn’t accomplishing much. It might be a little uncomfortable at first, but I guarantee that you will be able to make a difference in this world. And most importantly, don’t be ashamed of the gospel! There is no reason to be. It truly is the power of God that can save the people of this world!
The one turtle that I saw not hiding in its shell took a risk! Are you willing to take a risk and share the gospel today? Don’t worry…God will be there every moment!
Why did the turtle cross the road? We may never know…but he was willing to take the risk!
When David told Solomon the news that he would be building the temple, he said “Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a temple as a sanctuary. Be strong and do the work.” (1 Chronicles 28:10) That’s the call.
We are called not to build a temple, but to build the kingdom of God! We are all different and we all have different roles. Charles Swindoll said, “You are you. There will never be another You. And You are important!” Who you are has never lived before, and will NEVER live again! No matter how different we are, we are all looking toward one thing…the return of Jesus Christ and His kingdom. You are part of His plan! YOU are part of the Master’s plan to build the kingdom of God here on earth!
