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they offered willingly, because with PERFECT HEART they offered
willingly to the ETERNAL: and David the king also rejoiced with
great joy!"
They were stirred, inspired, MOVED, fired up to willingly
sacrifice other things they may have planned or wanted to buy, to
give and to honor their God! Dear Co-Workers, should we not ask,
WHY can't we, today, be stirred to put the WORK OF GOD first, ahead
of personal desires and wants? Can't we do as generously as they?
David was moved deeply and emotionally, because he knew
that all they gave came from the Great GOD! He was inspired to
realize HOW GREAT is our God! He was moved to an inspiring prayer,
publicly expressing gratitude and praise for the living God. It
was this prayer which I read in the Fenton translation that
inspired my
Personal article for TOMORROW'S WORLD. It begins with the very
next verse after the one quoted above:
"Blessed be YOU, the EVER-LIVING,--
The GOD of Our Father Israel, --
From Eternity to Eternity!
With You, LORD, is Greatness, and Power,
And Beauty, and Splendour, and Glory!
For all the Heavens and the Earth are Yours,
LORD!
The Government, and Exaltation,
And Headship of All!"
The Fenton translation omits part of the next verse -- the
12th., so I continue in the Moffatt translation in modern English:
"Riches and Honor come from thee, who reignest over all; in
thy hand lie POWER and MIGHT, and in thy hand it lies to make all
great and strong. Hence, O our God, we ever thank thee and praise
thy glorious name. Yet who am I, what is my people, that we should
be able to offer such freewill offerings? All gifts come from
thee, and we only give thee what is thine." (I Chronicles
29:10-14).
I seemed to catch the vision of the GREATNESS, the POWER,
the BEAUTY, the SPLENDOR and GLORY of God -- and of His throne in
Heaven! Do you fully realize it? God is not the author of
ugliness, but of BEAUTY! Not of unsightliness, or drab, colorless,
depressing surroundings, but of magnificence, inspiration, culture!
Not the source or giver of cheapness, inferiority, but of quality
and CHARACTER! Not of darkness, but of LIGHT and BRILLIANCE!
Some people have the very wrong idea that we ought to live
in drab, depressing, inferior surroundings. God Himself dwells in
brilliant SPLENDOR! From His throne in Heaven brilliant lightning
flashes forth! It is resplendent in BEAUTY, brilliance and GLORY
beyond description!
Said the inspired David, "Riches and honor come from thee!"
Not poverty, cheapness, inferiority -- RICHES, HONOR, CHARACTER,
QUALITY! God is the GIVER of all the GOOD THINGS! Poverty is a
punishment brought on humans by humans. Filth and squalor do not