1 Chronicles 16-17: The Project on God's Heart

We reflect on the return of the Ark, why repentance is re-centering, and how God’s promise to David reframes ambition. David wants to build a house for God, but God plans to build David into a house that lasts.

• gratitude for the community and support
• meaning of the Ark’s return to Jerusalem
• worship restored with prayer, music and offerings
• repentance as returning God to the center
• David’s desire to build vs God’s promise
• God establishes a dynasty and a future
• David’s humble prayer and gratitude
• challenge to surrender our plans to God

If you want to get in on our live Outloud Bible experiences, it’s free for churches. Outloudbible.com. Just send us a message

Chapters

• 0:22 Gratitude And Listener Appreciation
• 2:52 The Ark Returns And What It Means
• 4:26 Repentance As Re-centering On God
• 5:08 Reading 1 Chronicles 16: Worship Restored
• 9:15 Reading 1 Chronicles 17: God’s Promise To David
• 14:22 David’s Prayer Of Humility And Praise

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:11

Hey, welcome back to the Outloud Bible Project Podcast. This is Mike. And before we get into our reading and discussion today, I just wanted to take a couple minutes to thank you for your support of Outloud Bible Project. For starters, you are listening to this right now and just the fact that you are carving some time out of your day to listen to this podcast and and you've integrated these episodes into your life in some way to be able to engage with God's word and and take it and hear it, love it, live it, as we say, uh that's that's such a blessing to me. And uh I'm I'm thrilled to be able to walk this way with you through your greater understanding of God's word and learning to to live it and live in obedience to what he says. And I I hope you've been blessed by that. I hope you've been um been able to get to know God's heart a little bit more and that you have found as you can look back over this past year that uh you can see some growth and and developments and some of the things that used to bother you. Maybe you have more wisdom and don't get to you as much as they used to. You find yourself responding to similar situations in a new godlike way now that that maybe you hadn't before. That's that's what this is all about. God's giving you a new heart, and it's a process, it's a long and painful process sometimes. But your willingness is all he needs to, with time, turn you to more and more like his son Jesus. And I hope that has been your experience and your story here through this podcast. If if I can play any part in coming alongside you in that process, man, that is such a privilege. I'm so glad. Thank you also uh if you've supported financially the work of this ministry as we've seen it grow to really become this is what we got to do. This, my wife Kelsey, and I are committed to this work of reading the Bible out loud. And when we get through the Bible, whole Bible in this podcast away, we're gonna go and we're gonna do it again. And we'll talk more about that later, more about what the next phase of Outlaw Bible looks like. We're excited about that. But we've been able to go out and do live out loud Bible experiences at a number of churches. And um, if you want to get in on that, it's free for churches. Outloudbibel.com. Just send us a message. If you go to the website, send us an inquiry about uh what your church is doing and and how we might be able to come alongside and and bring the scripture out loud in a way to help others hear it and love it and live it. That would be a real great privilege for us as well. All right. Well, I'm getting a little sentimental here, so we're gonna move on to our reading. I'm sure we'll do some more kind of year-end recap as at the time of this recording, we're getting toward the end of the calendar year. We got more to talk about, reflect on, and cast some vision for in the future. So more to talk about. But for now, let's continue our reading of First Chronicles. Last time, the Ark of the Covenant was brought back to its proper place in the capital in Jerusalem. And uh it was a difficult process. They didn't go about it the right way the first time, but then God got David, the king, to uh to recognize what he had done wrong, and now the ark is back in a place where uh where they can actually revolve around the practice of worshiping God the right way. And again, it's been a while since they've been able to do that, so they're kind of getting their footing back here. But the ark being back in its proper place in Jerusalem meant a lot to God's people. It meant that, hey, God is with us just like he said he would, just like he promised to be. And when it was gone, it was because we were unfaithful. But he's back, and we're going to we're going to praise him the right way, we're gonna worship him the right way, and uh and we're gonna put God right in the center of our lives as he always should be. It's a really good reminder that we tend to drift. That's what our life is. We tend to drift away from God. And repentance isn't this big scary word that you know someone shouts at the on a street corner, repent. No, repentance is just the process of bringing God back to the center of your life. That's repentance. Let's not shy away from that word. Let's not make this a big scary thing of repentance. No, just bring God back into the center of your life. Stop going the way you're going. Stop, just bring back the drift back to center and put God where he belongs and continue to make decisions that keep him there at the center of your life. Now you may have to repent because you may drift again. That's okay. You may have to do it multiple times a day. That's fine. He has the patience for that. Keep repenting, and you'll find yourself having to do it less and less as you find yourself drifting less and less, because the more you get to know his heart, the more your heart becomes like his. So let's read what happens next now that the ark is back in its proper place, here in 1 Chronicles 16 and 17 in the New English Translation. They brought the Ark of God and put it in the middle of the tent David had pitched for it. Then they offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings before God. When David finished offering burnt sacrifices and peace offerings, he pronounced a blessing over the people in the Lord's name. He then handed out to each Israelite man and woman a loaf of bread, a date cake, and a raisin cake, and he appointed some of the Levites to serve before the ark of the Lord, to offer prayers, songs of thanks, and hymns to the Lord God of Israel. Asaph was the leader and Zechariah second in command, followed by Jael, Shemiramof, Jehael, Matathiah, Eliab, Beniah, Obed Edom, and Jael. They were to play stringed instruments. Asaph was to sound the cymbals, and the priests, Baniah and Jazel, were to blow trumpets regularly before the Ark of God's covenant. That day David first gave to Asaph and his colleagues this song of thanks to the Lord. Okay, I'm not going to sing it. It's not that kind of podcast. But here it is. Give thanks to the Lord. Call on his name. Make known his accomplishments among the nations. Sing to him, make music to him, tell about all his miraculous deeds. Boast about his holy name. Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Seek the Lord and the strength he gives. Seek His presence continually. Recall the miraculous deeds he performed, his mighty acts and the judgments he decreed. O children of Israel, God's servant, you descendants of Jacob, God's chosen ones, He is the Lord our God. He carries out judgment throughout the earth. Remember continually his covenantal decree, the promise he made to a thousand generations, the promise he made to Abraham, the promise he made by oath to Isaac. He gave it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as a lasting promise, saying to you, I will give the land of Canaan as the portion of your inheritance. When they were few in number, just a very few, and foreign residents within it, they wandered from nation to nation and from one kingdom to another. He let no one oppress them. He disciplined kings for their sake, saying, Don't touch my anointed ones, don't harm my prophets. Sing to the Lord, all the earth, announce every day how he delivers. Tell the nations about his splendor, tell all the nations about his miraculous deeds. For the Lord is great and certainly worthy of praise. He's more awesome than all gods, for all the gods of the nations are worthless. But the Lord made the heavens. Majestic splendor emanates from him. He is the source of strength and joy. Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the nations, ascribe to the Lord splendor and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the splendor he deserves. Bring an offering and enter his presence. Worship the Lord in holy attire, tremble before him, all the earth. The world is established, it cannot be moved. Let the heavens rejoice and the earth be happy. Let the nations say the Lord reigns, let the sea and everything in it shout, let the fields and everything in them celebrate, and then let the trees of the forest shout with joy before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, and his loyal love endures. Say this prayer, Deliver us, O God who delivers us, gather us, rescue us from the nations, and then we'll give thanks to your holy name and boast about your praiseworthy deeds. May the Lord God of Israel be praised in the future and forevermore. And then all the people said, We agree. Praise the Lord. David left Asaph and his colleagues there before the Ark of the Lord's covenant to serve before the Lord regularly and fulfill each day's requirements, including Obed Edom and sixty eight colleagues. Obed Edom, son of Judithan and Hosa were gatekeepers. Zadok the priest and his fellow priests served before the Lord's tabernacle at the worship center in Gibeon, regularly offering burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar for burnt sacrifice, morning and evening, according to what's prescribed in the law of the Lord, which he charged Israel to observe. Joining them were Heman, Jedathan, and the rest of the chosen, and designated by name to give thanks to the Lord, for his loyal love indoors. Heman and Jedathan were in charge of the music, including the trumpets, cymbals, and other musical instruments used in praising God. The sons of Jedathan guarded the entrance, and then all the people returned to their homes, and David went to pronounce a blessing on his family. When David had settled into his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, Look, I am living in a palace made from cedar, while the Ark of the Lord's covenant is in a tent. Nathan said to David, you should do whatever you have in mind, for God's with you. That night God told Nathan, Oh, go tell my servant David, this is what the Lord says, you must not build me a house in which to live. For I've not lived in a house from the time I brought Israel up from Egypt to the present day. I've lived in a tent that has been in various places. Wherever I moved throughout Israel, I didn't say to any of the leaders who I appointed to care for my people Israel, why have you not built me a house made from cedar? So now say this to my servant David, this is what the Lord of Heaven's armies says. I took you from the pasture, and from your work as a shepherd, to make you a leader of my people Israel. I was with you wherever you went, and I defeated all your enemies before you. Now I will make you as famous as the great men of the earth. I will establish a place for my people Israel and settle them there, and they will live there and not be disturbed any more. Violent men will not oppress them again as they did in the beginning, and during the time when I appointed judges to lead my people Israel, I will subdue all your enemies. I declare to you that the Lord will build a dynastic house for you. When the time comes for you to die, I will raise up your descendant, one of your own sons to succeed you, and I will establish his kingdom. He will build me a house, and I will make his dynasty permanent. I will become his father, and he will become my son. I will never withhold my loyal love from him as I withheld it from the one who ruled before you. I will put him in permanent charge of my house and my kingdom. His dynasty will be permanent. Nathan told David all these words that were revealed to him. King David went in, sat before the Lord, and said, Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my family that you should have brought me to this point? And you didn't stop there, O God, you've also spoken about the future of your servant's family. You've revealed to me what men long to know, O Lord God. What more can David say to you? You've honored your servant, you've given your servant special recognition. O Lord, for the sake of your servant, and according to your will you have done this great thing in order to reveal your greatness. O Lord, there is none like you. There is no God besides you. What we heard is true. And who is like your people, Israel, a unique nation in the earth? Their God went to claim a nation for himself. You made a name for yourself by doing great and awesome deeds when you drove out nations before your people whom you have delivered from the Egyptian Empire and its gods. You made Israel your very own nation for all time. You, O Lord, became their God. So now, O Lord, may the promise you made about your servant and his family become a permanent reality. Do as you promised, so that it may become a reality and you may gain lasting fame. As people say, the Lord of heaven's armies is the God of Israel. The dynasty of your servant David will be established before you, for you, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build the dynasty for him. That's why your servant has the courage to pray to you. Now, O Lord, you are the true God. You've made this good promise to your servant. Now you are willing to bless your servant's dynasty so that it may stand permanently before you, for you, O Lord, have blessed it, and it will be blessed from now on into the future. Well, have you thought about what you want to do for God? You want to start a ministry, you want to plant a church, you want to do this great big act of love for God and and a dedication of your devotion to Him. You want to make an impact and build his kingdom, that's good. But what if God is more interested in establishing you to represent Him and to show His glory to everyone else through His work in you? You may have a project in mind, but you are the project on God's mind. Are you willing to give up your plans so that He can have His way in your life? It may not be what you expect it to be, but it is good, and it's His plan, and it's for His glory. What's the project that you have on your heart? And are you willing to give it up to be God's project on His heart? That's the thinking out loud thought for the day.