The Hope of the Future

Today’s Passage – 1 Chronicles 23 – 25

Second Milers also read – John 19 – 20; Psalms 66 – 70; Proverbs 14

Scripture Memory for May – Psalm 51

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 47:1

In today’s passage (and yesterday’s) we read about David making the preparations for the building of the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the worshipping of God in the temple.   If you will recall, David was forbidden of God to actually build the temple himself because God said that he was a man of war; and that he had shed much blood while delivering Israel from the hands of her enemies.  God said that Solomon, David’s son, would be the man that would build the temple as he would be a man of peace.  However, this did not prevent David from doing all that he could to help gather the materials, and to make the necessary preparations, so that Solomon would have all that he needed to fulfill God’s will for his life.

I have been saved now for twenty years.  I have learned that God will not allow me to do all of the things that I have dreamed of doing for Him; but that does not stop me from doing all that I can do to help pave the way for those that He will call later to fulfil His will (and some of my dreams).  I have a lot of dreams: I dream of seeing multitudes of people saved and serving God here in south Jersey.  I dream of seeing hundreds of young men and women being trained here to go forth throughout the world serving God.  I dream of planting dozens of churches here in our area.  I dream of running dozens of buses all over Atlantic County, picking up boys and girls and bringing them to the house of God.  It is in my heart to do all of these things; but God will very likely not allow me to do all that I dream of.  But maybe I can help train and prepare the next generation so that they can take what we have started and build upon it.  I have to be content with being just a part of the process.  I can maybe help give the next generation a strong foundation so that they can continue to do what I could not do.

How about you?  What are you doing today to help prepare for the next generation.  Sometimes people don’t want to be involved in the process at all if they personally can’t be there for the final product; or if they won’t receive the praise of men for the final product.  We need to forget about who gets the credit;  do all that God will allow us to do ourselves today; and then give and train and prepare so that the next generation will be able to finish what we have started and even do “greater works than these”.

We need to be concerned about the next generation. I am reminded of Hezekiah who was not at all disturbed when God told him that judgment would come in future generations, as long as things were going well in his day. I believe we have a great responsibility to provide for the next generation. I want to see those who follow behind me succeed, and to build upon the foundation that was laid by the folks who came before them.

One final note – 3 times in chapters 23 – 25, David mentions folks that would be positioned in the temple just to praise the Lord. It seems that David took his worship of God seriously. We need to make ure that the next generaltion of Christians will not be ashamed to lift up the Lord in praise.