Tuesday 26 November 2013

The Last Words of David: Encouragement

David said to Solomon, ‘Be strong and courageous and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished.’ (1 Chron. 28:20)  

This echoes back to a previous massive transition in the Old Testament. When Moses, another great leader in their history, hands over to Joshua, the word that comes to Joshua in Josh. 1:9 is almost identical – there are deliberate echoes. And the instruction comes – ‘Do the work!’ It’s not ‘put your feet up and wait for it to happen’ – no, get stuck in and do it! You have a part to play and don’t fear and don’t be discouraged. Why? Because the Lord your God is with you.

The Lord God is with you!’ Ponder on that fact! Amazing! This does not mean that we won’t go through challenging times – there are seasons in life that ebb and flow. Sometimes it seems like everything is going great – sometimes it’s really tough. Just because we are Christians doesn’t mean we won’t face challenge or circumstances which perplex us. We are like everyone else – but the big difference is that we face these things with the Lord God. We have to hold on to that – easy enough when all is going well – but we have to remember that it is true in whatever season of life we are going through now.

And even if you are thinking – ‘Well, that’s all very well. I don’t know what my dream, my ‘that’, is. I’m not very good at planning either...’ The key thing is for you to know that the Lord God is with you, whatever. Keep following God, keep faithful in prayer and He may put into your heart and mind the seed of a dream. There is still time!