“So I answered them, and said to them, ‘The God of heaven Himself will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build…’” (Nehemiah 2:20).
Beloved: The Lord gave us in the beginning of this year the promise that it will be a year of rest, fruitfulness and building; just as the pastor of the church already shared with us. We should always keep in mind that when we receive a specific promise from the Lord, we have to pray constantly for it, believe in it, and do our part, to see this promise come true and bear the desired fruits; this is a biblical principle we have to constantly be aware of.. Now, the word of the Lord certifies this, when Nehemiah the great leader whom the Lord used to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem after they were destroyed by the enemies, says:
The Lord will give us success.. therefore we will rise and build..
The people did their part after they believed the word of the Lord who gave them success, and they succeeded in building.
And in another place the word says:
“The horse is prepared for the day of battle, But deliverance is of the Lord.”
(Proverbs 21:31).
The Lord gives a word and attends to see it happen by giving the victory, but we need to do our part, to prepare the horse for the day of battle.
And we find throughout the Bible mention of men of God and of many people who worked vigorously and hard, and even sacrificed their life to fulfill God’s purpose and to expand His kingdom. So let us examine those real stories and learn from them what the Holy Spirit wants to teach us today.
The events in this passage of scriptures happened when the Lord commanded Moses to build the tent of meeting:
“Then Moses called Bezalel and Aholiab, and every gifted artisan in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, everyone whose heart was stirred, to come and do the work. And they received from Moses all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of making the sanctuary. So they continued bringing to him freewill offerings every morning. Then all the craftsmen who were doing all the work of the sanctuary came, each from the work he was doing, and they spoke to Moses, saying, ‘The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which the Lord commanded us to do.’ So Moses gave a commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, ‘Let neither man nor woman do any more work for the offering of the sanctuary.’ And the people were restrained from bringing, for the material they had was sufficient for all the work to be done –indeed too much.”
(Exodus 36:2-7).
Those words are beautiful and contain precious lessons we have to learn.
The craftsmen came to Moses to ask him to stop the people from bringing more offering because they brought much more than enough.. and the material was more than what they needed!!!
Following, is a simple question that doesn’t have the aim to blame anyone, rather as we said it is aimed to make us learn the lesson from the Holy Spirit today..
Are we offering today for the work of the Lord what is needed from our time, our gifts, our money… or anything else the Lord needs?
Think deeply and calmly under the presence of the Holy Spirit about this question, today and all next week, answer the Lord honestly, and let Him correct what needs correction, so your heart can be on fire again for the work of the Lord, and you become one of this people in this area, for the word says in the same passage: everyone whose heart was stirred, to come and do the work.
The heart has to be on fire, and the desire for the work of God has to be created in it, in order for you to be able to offer what the work needs and more.
If we think a little bit about this story, we would certainly realize that the people at that time were of different social and financial levels, there were the poor, the medium wage, and the rich, just as we have today; and there was the person with various gifts and maybe the person with only two gifts, and the one with one gift only.. But all offered to the Lord according to their capacity, and the Lord as we know doesn’t look at the quantity but at the heart. We shouldn’t forget that the two small copper coins of the widow were much more important for the Lord than the great fortune of the rich; because she offered them with a truthful and loving heart to the Lord, and this is what the Lord asks of us this morning..
So whatever are your financial possibilities, or your gifts, or the time that you can dedicate to the work of God, come with it with a pure heart, ablaze with the love of the Lord, offer it to the Lord and it will be very precious to Him, and He will use it in a great way.
The word also says:
“And after the Levites left, those from all the tribes of Israel, such as set their heart to seek the Lord God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord God of their fathers. So they strengthened the kingdom…” (2 Chronicles 11:16-17).
“Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, Your ways are in their hearts. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, They make it a spring… They go from strength to strength” (Psalm 84:5-7).
Yes.. it’s not the capabilities, nor the multitude of gifts, nor the size of the work.. rather the hearts that are seeking the Lord, and who are constantly seeking Him, despite the circumstances and difficulties; this is what makes the difference in the sight of the Lord, and He then gives the strength and the victory..
The persons whose heart kept seeking the Lord, and who had His ways in their hearts, were the source of strength to the kingdom, and when they passed through the Valley of Baca they made it a spring of water..
So when the Lord sees those hearts that are seeking Him faithfully, purely, and with passion, He completes the work with His powerful hand.. This is the essence beloved.
Come let us now examine David, and his heart, that was according to the Lord’s heart, and how he succeeded in building the house of the Lord:
“Lord, remember David… How he swore to the Lord, And vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob: ‘Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house, Or go up to the comfort of my bed; I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, Until I find a place for the Lord, A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
(Psalm 132:1-5).
God doesn’t have favoritism, and when He tells us in several passages of the Bible that the heart of David was according to His heart, it’s because it was really that way, and this is reflected by these precious verses.
We deduce from these words that David’s obsession with which he lived day and night and never let go, was: to build the house of the Lord, and this is how every one of us needs to be..
Moreover, David was not satisfied by having these desires in his heart, rather he put all his strength to make those wishes come true:
“Now for the house of my God I have prepared with all my might: gold for things to be made of gold, silver for things of silver, bronze for things of bronze, iron for things of iron, wood for things of wood, onyx stones, stones to be set, glistening stones of various colors, all kinds of precious stones, and marble slabs in abundance. Moreover, because I have delighted in the house of my God, I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house, my own special treasure of gold and silver… (Then David asked the people who was willing to offer to build the house of the Lord, and they offered willingly)… They gave for the work of the house of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze, and one hundred thousand talents of iron… Then the people rejoiced, for they had offered willingly, because with a loyal heart they had offered willingly to the Lord… Therefore David blessed the Lord before all the assembly; and David said: … ‘Now therefore, our God, We thank You And praise Your glorious name. But who am I, and who are my people, That we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, And of Your own we have given You’… ‘O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have prepared to build You a house for Your holy name is from Your hand, and is all Your own. I know also, my God, that You test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things; and now with joy I have seen Your people, who are present here to offer willingly to You. O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the intent of the thoughts of the heart of Your people, and fix their heart toward You.” (1 Chronicles 29:2-18).
All those details in the word of the Lord are not there by coincidence and there are no excessive explanations and expressions, the Holy Spirit has always a purpose in that, and here I feel as if the Lord is telling us: whatever are your capacities.. whether you were of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood or onyx, or stones to be set, or glistening stones of various colors, or precious stones or marble stones…
I need you to build my house.. You have a place in my house..
Yes.. for each one of us there is a place and a role in the work of the Lord that we need to accomplish.. But.. with all our hearts and with joy, this is the essential aim of this meditation..
David continues by saying: that because he has delighted, he was not satisfied from giving all those metals and stones, rather he offered also from his own personal fortune..
And the Holy Spirit didn’t say because of the joy of David, but because of his delight, and this addition has a meaning the Holy Spirit wants to emphasize, and it is that we shouldn’t work for the Lord or offer Him out of necessity, or out of duty or fear or any other motive, rather our hearts have to be ablaze with love for Him and His work, and we should have excessive joy when we give Him our money, time, gifts, and all that we have, and the Lord blesses only those hearts and motives, He’s delighted by them, and He makes it bear a multitude of fruits. The apostle Paul also says in the same context:
“So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7).
Beloved: The Lord has made us one body, but many members, and by grace He has given a role and a work for each one of us, we have to do it faithfully, with passion, integrity, and with a pure motive coming from a heart obsessed day and night with the love of the Lord and His work to expand His kingdom, and the word of the Lord says in this context:
“For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.” (Romans 12:4-8).
“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ… may grow up in all things into Him who is the head –Christ- from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” (Ephesians 4:11-16).
Beloved:
There is a specific work for each part, each joint, and if one of them stops working, the whole body will stop growing and will not be joined and knit together, and the work will not be done, moreover it will stop..
Our offering has to be like the offering of the people in the days of Moses, we come with what is needed for the work and even more..
We need to have our hearts like David’s heart, to delight in the house of our God, to offer in abundance, without any human calculations, and with pure motives coming from a heart passionate with the love of the Lord and His work..
We need to have our effort and our labor and toil like David, and we shouldn’t give sleep to our eyes, or slumber to our eyelids until we see the work of God completed as it should..
Every one of us needs to know the specific role that the Lord has for him, and he needs to accomplish it with faithfulness and to complete it, whether it is a great role or a small.
Beloved:
We should be aware of the craftiness of the enemy, not be deceived by him, and not be ignorant of his thoughts, and we shouldn’t let our minds be filled with a teaching that is far from the word of God, because if we don’t possess a heart full of the passionate love of the Lord, the determination to give and to work with seriousness and vigor, and to sacrifice our time, money, comfort and all that we have, for the service of the Lord, we will not bear fruits, and we will not be able to build the house of the Lord and to participate in the expansion of His kingdom..
And whoever doesn’t have all those things, let him shout to the Lord today to give him, and then we will all say with one voice at the beginning of this year:
The God of heaven Himself will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build…
