David continued to address Solomon: “Take charge! Take heart! Don’t be anxious or get discouraged. God, my God, is with you in this; he won’t walk off and leave you in the lurch. He’s at your side until every last detail is completed for conducting the worship of God. You have all the priests and Levites standing ready to pitch in, and skillful craftsmen and artisans of every kind ready to go to work. Both leaders and people are ready. Just say the word.”                1 Chronicles 28:20 (The Message)
Commitment is not a word I hear in daily conversations. Is it a word that is discussed and taught in our schools and our places of worship? It should be. Commitment is a serious word that demands thought from a reasoning mind that is followed by a “forever, never turning back†from the heart. Commitment is not done in haste and, I believe, it has eternal ramifications.
I know a man, who loved to play ball. Basketball. Baseball. He would have played football but his mother said, “Noâ€, because she was afraid he would get hurt. He played at every level of ball. He was never given the recognition that many who were his peers received. He didn’t play on championship teams. He did not find his physical strength until into his 20’s so no big colleges or professional teams were looking at him out of high school. And then, in a series of “God appointmentsâ€, some baseball scouts began to notice. He was drafted by a major league team. He played major league baseball. It was this man’s commitment to his dream that kept him going in a dark world of professional sports where encouragement came from a distant family and few key people he met along the way. His spiritual health weakened as he worked hard at his craft.
Today this man has learned some wisdom to pass along to those he now coaches. He is teaching another generation about commitment. He is also learning what he needs for his own spiritual health and the commitment God has already made to him.
David is telling his son, Solomon, that the huge job that he has to build God’s temple is do-able because of Who is working with him. Solomon can move forward in his life if he can grasp the commitment that God has already made to him. Just as Paul will say hundreds of years later: If God is for me who cares if someone speaks against me? (Romans 8:31) It is worry and discouragement that gets me off track in my life. The mission or job that I know I have been gifted to do and God has given me to do can become blurry and out of focus when I become tired and discouraged in the “every day†of this world. Just as I make sleep and re-fueling with balanced meals part of my life’s schedule, I must also give time to spiritual re-fueling. Whether in musical worship, studying God’s Word, corporate worship, prayer, or some combination, if I do not make the commitment to building my relationship with God, all the other parts of my life will forever be in disconnect.
I am taking time today and to examine my commitment to God. He is committed to our relationship. What is my true commitment? Holy Spirit, come and shine Your light on me. Help me to choose Who and what is the best for me.
