Thine, O Lord

1 Chronicles 29:10-14 "Wherefore David blessed the LORD before all the congregation: and David said, Blessed be thou, LORD God of Israel our father, for ever and ever. [11]  Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all. [12] Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. [13]  Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. [14]  But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee."

What makes a great man, or a great woman of God? When we speak of great people of God, great powers that God used on the earth, we often wonder what makes these people more special than all the other believers who have followed the Christ. Billy Graham: why do thousands flock forward to kneel and be counseled unto salvation under his preaching? David Livingstone has long been recognized as one of the greatest of God's missionaries. He spent thirty years traveling through Africa, preaching the Gospel of Christ until, on May 1, 1873, he was found dead kneeling beside his bedside, as if in prayer. When Livingstone was asked by newspaper reporters about his great sacrifices for God he said:
 

"People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Can that be called a sacrifice which is simply paid back as a small part of a great debt owing to our God, which we can never repay? Is that a sacrifice which brings its own best reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind, and a bright hope of a glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought! It was emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering or danger, now and then, with a foregoing of the common conveniences and charities of this life make us pause and cause the spirit to waver and the soul to sink, but let this be only for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall hereafter be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice. Of this we ought not to talk when we remember the great sacrifice which He made Who left His Father's throne on high to give Himself for us; Who, being the brightness of that Father's glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had, by Himself, purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high."

What makes a great person of God? A great person in God's Kingdom is one who has learned what King David, and Livingstone learned: Of God is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty. Let's look at King David's blessing in detail, while we apply it to our lives.

Our Lord is "great", GeDUWLAH, capable of "mighty acts", and there is nothing too hard for Him to set His hand to and accomplish. The army that enters an area to conquer it, if it relies on the hand of God, will indeed conquer its enemy. King David forgot this fact during his reign. He sent Joab out to "number the people", get a census of the number of fighting men in order to "feel comfortable" with the power the nation possessed.

2 Samuel 24:2-3 "For the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people. [3]  And Joab said unto the king, Now the LORD thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it: but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?"

David asked for this thing, this "census", yet Joab understood in his heart that the power of Israel the nation came not from the number of people, but from the trust the individual members of the nation placed in God's Greatness. Yet David did not heed Joab's warning, and a census was returned to David showing 130,000 men were available for the armies of God. David realized his error when the census was returned, and confessed this sin to God - yet God punished Israel for David's folly. God sent pestilence on the land and allowed 70,000 of these brave warriors to perish, over half of the warrior population, in order to teach David and Israel a lesson: the strength of Israel was not in their numbers, but in their faithfulness to God. The mighty works that Israel did were not works that they crafted from their own wisdom, but works that God accomplished through them.

Children, do you "number" your assets before trusting in God? If so, you cut yourself off from the abundant blessing that flows from God's greatness. When we count our pennies before we tithe of ourselves, we do as David did - we number our resources, trust in them, and lock out the very operational greatness of God in our lives. Rely in His greatness, He who has the power to hang the planets on nothingness, He who placed stars in the Heavens, so many that man cannot number them. He is more than capable of Great Acts in your life - but you must not number, you must not trust on your own assets.
 

A father bought his little girl a new bank and gave it to her, trying to teach her the value of saving "up for a rainy day". The little girl went around the house much as my children did when they were little, and scrounged and found change to put in her bank. If it's on a counter, of course, it's fair game! A few days later the father came home with two shiny new silver dollars and gave them to the child to put in her bank. In just a few minutes she came back crying. He looked at her and asked what was wrong, and she replied, "It won't fit in my bank, daddy". When the father looked at her bank he found that it was crammed full of pennies, washers, toothpicks and paper clips. The worthless kept the child from adding the true riches to the bank. Are we this way before God? Do we add so much worthlessness to our lives that the Greatness of God is blocked out?

King David learned that all true Power, if it is true Power, comes from God. "Power", GA'AVAH means "majesty", and is often used in Scripture to refer to "pride". Oh, how many have fallen because they have trusted in their own pride rather than in the Majesty of God.

How foolish to be prideful before One who is clothed in glory, before One which we cannot look on in this life without the loss of life. How foolish to be too proud to walk 20 feet and proclaim your allegiance to Him who died for you. How foolish to believe that we are equal to One who has His throne surrounded by the anointed Cherubim, the guardian angels, and at His feet sit a choir of angels singing praises to Him day and night.

God is majestic, and those who surrender themselves to Him will share in that majesty in this life and in the life to come. I have never met a called preacher of God's Word who felt worthy to preach that Word, for within we of the calling know that we are but mortal, and He immortal. We are but feeble, but He is majestic in power. With stuttering tongue we release ourselves to try and convey the thoughts of Grace, praying as we do that the effort will not offend the Truth of Life.

Are you prideful? God cannot work in that environment. Satan, the anointed Cherub that covereth, was cast to earth in shame because he stood before God and loudly proclaimed "I will". God works when we humble ourselves, when we realize our lives must be turned over to Him.
 

In 1932 a young husband and an up and coming revival soloist had to leave his pregnant wife to go to a meeting. Something told him not to go, yet he quelled these thoughts and pressed on to the meeting.  The next night the soloist sang, and in the midst of revival the crowd called on him to sing again and again. When he finally sat down to rest a messenger boy from Western Union ran up with an envelope and gave it to him. The man opened the envelope and read the words, "Your wife just died". In the midst of the singing and clapping he could hardly restrain himself, and he rushed to a phone and called his house. All he could hear on the other end was "Nettie is dead". Returning home the man found out his wife gave birth to a baby boy, but later on that night the child, too, went to be with his mother. The man buried his wife and child, and then fell into bitterness. "Surely God has done me an injustice - I don't want to serve Him anymore".  As he grieved, though, he began to think on the night he left home. Remember, "Something" had told him to stay home with his wife, yet he ignored that leading. As he began to trust in God's majesty, the young man sat down at a piano and began fingering the keys. As he rested in God, he felt the grief drain away and a peace overcame him. The melody and words that God gave him for comfort were: Precious Lord, take my hand, Lead me on, let me stand, I am tired, I am weak, I am worn. Through the storm, through the night, Lead me on to the light, Take my hand, Precious Lord, Lead me home. Tommy Dorsey learned that, when we fully rely on God, when we place our lives totally at His disposal, then we are open to His restoring power. He said, "So I go on living for God willingly and joyfully, until that day when He will take me and gently lead me home". Paraphrased from Tommy Dorsey, "The Birth of Precious Lord", Guideposts Magazine

Next King David recognized that all Glory, TIPH'ARAH, "beauty" comes from God. The other day my wife and I were invited to a dinner for ministers by David and Diane. While we were at the dinner I kept looking over at one elder woman who sat with her husband at a table nearby. She was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a super model, nor was she an outwardly ugly woman. But she was indeed beautiful, for the light of Jesus Christ shined out of her very being.

When King David brought the Ark of the Covenant into the city, and placed it in the tent that he and the people constructed for it, he began to sing a song of thanksgiving to God. In 1 Chronicles 16.28-29 David sang:

1 Chronicles 16:28-29 "Give unto the LORD, ye kindreds of the people, give unto the LORD glory and strength. [29]  Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness."

What is true beauty? To mankind, it is the outward form of the body, how well it is made up, how toned the skin and frame are. Yet God teaches that true beauty comes only through holiness, through the life consecrated to God. As I look out over the congregation I see many beautiful people, people who are outwardly attractive. But remember this:

If you want to have true beauty, if you want to worship the Lord your God, you must have the power of God within you shining outward in your life. Satan, the Scripture teaches us, was clothed in precious stones, and was an angel composed of wonderful light. Yet his outward appearance, though beautiful, masks the ugly inner disposition toward sin and unrighteousness.

David next shows us that Victory, NETSACH, our ability to "reach the goal" comes from God. So often as humans we seem to struggle toward a goal that, once we reach it, seems so empty that it drives us to struggle toward another goal. King David learned that Victory comes not from our own power and dedication in  driving toward a goal, but in relying on our Heavenly Father, the fellowship of the Christ, and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit to reach that goal.

What good a victory that, though won, causes you to lose your family? Scores of people have achieved victory in business and in their personal lives while destroying the quality of their lives. Each goal that David achieved, he achieved in the power of God. Every time he tried to reach a goal apart from God's guidance, it always ended in sad failure.

"Majesty", the Hebrew HOD is unique, not found in the other Semitic languages. The word means "splendor, unique honor", and is used to describe God our Messiah in:

Zechariah 6:12-13 "And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: [13] Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory [HOD], and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both."

This, then, is the crucial and final mark of the great believer in God. Jesus Christ bears the unique honor of God, and we who believe in Him are leaves from this special BRANCH.

Do you know Jesus Christ today? If so, have you surrendered your life to His leading? You cannot be a great man or woman of God unless you have hidden your life in Christ.

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