1 Chronicles 29

David’s Final Hours

David obviously wasn’t a perfect man.  If David were a missionary, I do not think many pastors would support a rapist and a murderer.  But the one whom is the apple of God’s eye does not need to be without sin, only his sin need not to be imputed to him.  For it was David who said, ” Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no guile” (Psalm 32).  Paul would later quote David to correct the Jew’s understanding of the terms of justification. (See Romans 4:6,8).

I believe if David were somebody else other than David, the Christian world would not think so highly of Him.  But since the Scriptures whereby we study Davids life are “God-breathed”, it forces us to look past our fleshly judgements and seek the meaning God is communicating about Himself.  The man after God’s own heart, the apple of His eye, the one whom sin is not imputed has a heart that sets his affections upon God’s house (v4). I wonder if Paul who was so keen on quoting David also held verse three in his mind when he told the Colossians to “If ye be risen with Christ…Set your affection on things above, not on things of the earth” (See Col. 3:1-2).

Chronicles then gives us a very real application of how David set his affection on the Lord by sacrificially giving to what he understood to be the next part in the Lord’s plan, building Him a house .  David says in verse two that he used all his might.  In verse three it says he used his own proper good, in other words, he dug deep in his own pockets. Thus the visible element of a man who is after God’s own heart is living sacrificially for the Lord, not because He needs our service, but sacrifice the act of love.

But a what a humble and wise human being does is offer their sacrifices to the Lord knowing that very things that he offers originated from the Lord’s goodness (v16).  So David carefully words a prayer of thanksgiving to reflect God’s perfect sovereign goodness.

…