Discover the transformative power of dedicating a sacred space for communion with the divine in our latest podcast episode. We journey through the rich spiritual history of the Israelites, from the wilderness tabernacle to Solomon's temple, pausing to illuminate the lesser-known but significant tent of David. Through an in-depth examination of 1 Chronicles chapter 16, we uncover the essence of worship and the impact of David's Levitical appointments and his profound song of thanksgiving. Experience the joy and strength that come from embracing God's omnipotence and the sense of community forged in shared worship and praise.
Carving out special moments with God isn't just an ancient practice; it's a timeless call to deepen our spiritual journey. Today's conversation extends an invitation to create your own personal sanctuary for prayer and reflection. Learn how such a space can serve as a wellspring of joy, anticipation, and a more profound connection with the Almighty. Join in a heartfelt prayer that concludes our session, as we seek to inspire a hunger for God's presence and His guiding love in our daily lives. Let this episode be a catalyst for a richer, more intentional walk with God, touching the heart with timeless truths and contemporary applications.
Discover the transformative power of dedicating a sacred space for communion with the divine in our latest podcast episode. We journey through the rich spiritual history of the Israelites, from the wilderness tabernacle to Solomon's temple, pausing to illuminate the lesser-known but significant tent of David. Through an in-depth examination of 1 Chronicles chapter 16, we uncover the essence of worship and the impact of David's Levitical appointments and his profound song of thanksgiving. Experience the joy and strength that come from embracing God's omnipotence and the sense of community forged in shared worship and praise.
Carving out special moments with God isn't just an ancient practice; it's a timeless call to deepen our spiritual journey. Today's conversation extends an invitation to create your own personal sanctuary for prayer and reflection. Learn how such a space can serve as a wellspring of joy, anticipation, and a more profound connection with the Almighty. Join in a heartfelt prayer that concludes our session, as we seek to inspire a hunger for God's presence and His guiding love in our daily lives. Let this episode be a catalyst for a richer, more intentional walk with God, touching the heart with timeless truths and contemporary applications.
Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. 1 Chronicles, chapter 16, and today's title is Make a Special Place. Make a Special Place. We're going to talk about what that means in just a moment, but, of course, as always, before we do anything else, make sure you like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Leave us a comment on the YouTube channel. Make sure we're connecting with one another. I love hearing from you every day. Also, we all gather together at the Bible Breakdown Discussion Group on Facebook, and the more we dig, the more we find, and I always celebrate those people. They do such an amazing job connecting us to God's Word every single day.
Speaker 1:
All right, well, one of the things that we don't always know about until we start digging into God's word is we all have heard about if you've been around the Bible for very long about the tabernacle of God. It was a tent, very elaborate tent, but a tent that God had Moses make so that the nation of Israel could worship God while they were in the wilderness. Well, eventually, solomon, david's son, builds the temple, which is very similar in its makeup Similar, maybe, not very, but similar in its makeup, to the tabernacle, but it was a building. Well, what not everybody realizes is there was a space in between called the tent of David, and what it was is a very small tent and it wasn't all the different compartments like you see in those two places, but it was a place where people could meet with the Lord. And when you had the tabernacle and when you had the Temple of Solomon, only certain people could go into the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was A very special time. People could go into the Temple or the Tent of David and see the Ark. And that's actually an amazing thing that I'll tent of David and see the ark, and that's actually an amazing thing that I'll talk to you about at the end. But it really talks to how it wasn't yet time to build the temple, they didn't have the tabernacle, and so David set aside a special place to meet with God and we're going to see what that maybe has to say to us in just a moment. But first let's read the Bible if you're ready. 1 Chronicles bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins.
Speaker 1:
David appointed the following Levites to lead the people in worship before the ark of the Lord to invoke his blessings, to give thanks and to praise the Lord, the God of Israel. Asaph, the leader of this group, sounded the cymbals. The second to him was Zechariah, followed by Jeriel Sheremoth, jethiel, mattahiah, eliab, benaiah, obed-edom and Jael. They played the harps and lyres. The priest Benaiah and Jezeel played the trumpets regularly before the ark of God's covenant. Then, on that day, david gave to Asaph and the fellow Levites this song of thanksgiving to the Lord.
Speaker 1:
Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim His greatness. That the whole world know what he has done. Sing to Him, yes, sing His praises. Tell everyone about His wonderful deeds. Exalt His holy name.
Speaker 1:
Rejoice, you who worship the Lord, search the Lord for his strength, continually seek his name. Remember the wonders he has performed, his miracles and the rulings he has given you, children of his servant, israel, you descendants of Jacob, his chosen ones. He is our Lord, our God. His justice is seen throughout the land. Remember his covenant forever, the commitment he made to a thousand generations. This is the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac. He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree and to the people of Israel as a never-ending covenant. I will give you the land of Canaan as your possession.
Speaker 1:
He said this when you were few in number, a tiny group of strangers in Canaan. They wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another, and they did not let anyone oppress them. Yet he did not let anyone oppress them. He warned the kings on their behalf and they said Do not touch my chosen people, do not hurt my prophets. Let all the whole earth sing to the Lord Each day. Proclaim the good news that he saves. Publish his glorious deeds among the nations. Tell everyone about the amazing things he does.
Speaker 1:
Great is the Lord. He is most worthy of praise. He is to be feared above all gods. The gods of other nations are mere idols. But the Lord made the heavens. Honor and majesty surround him. Strength and joy fill his dwelling. O nations of the world, recognize the Lord. Recognize that the Lord is glorious and strong. Give to the Lord the glory he deserves. Bring your offerings and come into his presence. Worship the Lord in all his holy splendor. Pause for just a moment.
Speaker 1:
Can you imagine Asaph is looking for a new song to sing and David says hey, I just wrote this one. And he starts to unroll the scroll. And he keeps on unrolling. Do you say that to the king? Do you say, hey, king, could you cut a couple verses off this song? It's a long song, you imagine he's like? Okay, verse 12. Here we go. All right, let's finish this up together.
Speaker 1:
Let the heavens be glad, let the earth rejoice. Tell all the nations the lord reigns at the seas and everything in it praise, shout his praise. That all the fields and their crops burst out with joy. That the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, for he is coming to judge the earth. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His faithful love endures forever. Cry out save us, o God of our salvation. Gather and rescue us from among the nations. So we thank your holy name and rejoice and praise you. Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who lives from everlasting to everlasting. And all the people shouted amen and they praised the Lord, and not only because that was finally the end of the song, right Verse 37.
Speaker 1:
God arranged excuse me, david arranged for Asaph and his fellow Levites to serve regularly before the Ark of the Lord's Covenant, doing whatever needed to be done each day. This group included Obed-Edom. There he is again, son of Jaduthun Hosha and 68 other Levites as gatekeepers. Meanwhile, david stationed Zadok, the priest, and his fellow priests at the tabernacle of the Lord at the place of worship in Gibeon, where he continued to minister before the Lord. They sacrificed the regular burnt offerings to the Lord each morning and evening on the altar set aside for that purpose, obeying everything that was written in the law of the Lord as he had commanded Israel. David also appointed Heman, because, of course, jaduthun and the other chosen leaders by name to give thanks to the Lord for his faithful love endures forever. They used their trumpets, cymbals and other instruments to accompany their songs of praise to God, and the sons of Juduthun were appointed as gatekeepers. Then all the people returned to their homes and David turned and went home to bless his own family.
Speaker 1:
Wow, so much is going on there and so many things are happening, but all of this is happening in a special place that David set aside for the presence of God. You know, one of the things I learned in my life is when I first gave my life to Christ, I made prayer and worship a part of my life, but it was really hard to establish a relationship with God, to establish a specific like I'm going to pray now. You know that kind of thing. And then slowly, over the course of years, I started to establish like a place this is where I'm going to go when I pray, and that was fine. But then I started to notice that when I established a place as best I could, but then also a time I put it on my calendar this is the time when I'm going to have time with God at a special place with God I started to notice something amazing happening. When I started making a special time and a special place to be with God, it was amazing how often I would experience the power of God at that place and at that time, because it was a place dedicated to the Lord.
Speaker 1:
Notice what's happening in this chapter. They're singing songs to God, they're praising before God, they're doing all these different things, and it's all happening because David made a place for God. One're praising before God, they're doing all these different things, and it's all happening because David made a place for God. One of the things that's really cool is Psalm I believe it's 91, that talks about how we rest under the shadow of God's wings. There is some Hebrew commentary that says what may have happened. We don't know this for a fact, but it's something they think may have happened is because the ark wasn't in the tabernacle tent or the tent of Solomon, so the sun actually would shine down on the ark. That it would shine on the ark. It would cast a shadow at certain times of the day and it would cast a shadow the wings of the ark that would make the mercy seat. It would cast a shadow. And there's some Hebrew commentary that says what David would do is to be as close to the presence of God as he could. He would go and he would get in the shadow of the wings of the cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant and they say that might have been where he wrote we rest in the shadow of your wings. Well, where did he do that? In the special place he had made with God. Do you know?
Speaker 1:
I've been through seasons in my life where I have that special place with God and a special time with God, and there's times when my heart is so heavy, there's so much going on that I don't talk to God about anything. I just sit in the shadow of his wings. I listen to worship music. Sometimes there's no music at all. I'm just sitting in the presence of my heavenly father.
Speaker 1:
And can I tell you, if you don't have a special place where you can be with God, if you don't have a special time when you can be with God, it is a wonderful next step for you to consider. Now you may be in a season where you don't have a place. There's just no such thing Now. It can be your car, it can be your bedroom, it can be your closet, it can be anything but a place where you say, when I have a strategic time of prayer and that doesn't mean it's the only time you pray or the only place you pray but I'm going to have a strategic time with God, I'm going to go to my special place and I'm going to go pray and watch what happens. But then also a time, can I tell you, mine is first thing in the morning, and the reason why is because most of the time, everybody else is asleep, so I'm not getting any text messages, any emails, any phone calls. My family's asleep Most of the time, unless it's an emergency, no one's bothering me during my prayer time, which means I can then spend time with the Lord.
Speaker 1:
And so I want to ask you, what would a next step look like if you were to establish a special place and a special time with God, can I tell you, at first you may not notice any difference.
Speaker 1:
It may just be another day, another time. But over time you may start to notice that God starts to meet with me in my special place and at my special time and you may get to where you start longing for that place and that time and get to where you look forward to that time, because you know your Heavenly Father is going to meet with you then and you're going to get to rest under the shadow of his wings. Let's pray together, god. Thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that you want to know us more than we want to know you. I pray that that will fill us with joy and with excitement and, as we get to know you more, god, that we will rest under the shadow of your wings and we'll experience your presence in every way. We thank you for that. Now, in Jesus' name, we pray Amen and amen, what God's word says in 1 Chronicles 29, 17,. I know, my God, that you examine our hearts and rejoice when you find integrity there. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow at 1 Corinthians, chapter 17.