David’s devotion
David vowed: “I will not go home; I will not let myself rest. I will not let my eyes sleep nor close my eyelids in slumber until I find a place to build a house for the Lord, a sanctuary for the Mighty One of Israel.” Psalm 132:3-5
When David made Jerusalem the capital city of Israel, it was a major political event. The dynamics of the nation from then onwards were totally different. But, for David, this was far more than merely a political moment. He saw the city as a spiritual centre for the nation.
This would be the place where people would come to worship God. And, so, the first need was to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. When this happened, David was so exuberantly joyful that he famously danced before the Lord with all his might. His wife, Michal, spotted him from her window and was appalled by his lack of decorum, but he insisted that he had to worship God in this way (see 2 Samuel 6:22).
Relocating the Ark was the first step towards the building of the Temple. This didn’t happen during David’s lifetime, but he went to great lengths to ensure that all the resources were brought together so that his son, Solomon, was able to complete it.
David was totally committed to the Temple project because of his devotion to the Lord. He knew that everything he possessed came from God, and building the Temple would be the visible sign of Israel’s commitment. Towards the end of his reign, David organised phenomenal quantities of metal and wood to be brought together for the Temple construction. He himself contributed 102 tonnes of gold and 238 tonnes of silver. The value of this today would be well over £1bn!
David gladly contributed all of this knowing that all he, and the people of Israel, were doing was returning to God what he had given them in the first place.
We won’t be invited to build a Temple, but we need to learn from David’s single-minded devotion to God. Serving God faithfully needs to be our priority and our all-consuming passion.
QUESTION
What do you learn from David’s devotion to God?
PRAYER
Lord God, help me to focus more of my energies on serving you day by day. Amen