Finishing Well, Part 1

Currently, I'm part of a group of woman who are reading a devotional together via a group text message. The devotional is by Priscilla Shirer and it's called, "Awaken, 30 Days with the God Who Speaks". The daily devotionals are like appetizers...small but packed with BIG flavor. The title of today's devotional is, "Finishing Well". The devotional encourages us to be led by God in releasing things when God says to release it. Often times, this may mean passing a project that we initiated, on to another person to complete. It gives an example of how God appointed David to begin the construction of the Temple Mount from its foundation, however, it was David's son Solomon who actually completed the work.

You may think that it is unfair how the very Temple that David began construction of gives little recognition to him. Since Solomon completed it, it became "Solomon's Temple" to the people. A name that gives no recognition to the man that laid the foundation. In today's world, buildings have a ceremony when the cornerstone is laid. The cornerstone is typically inscribed with the date of the groundbreaking as well as the architect, builder, and other significant people. In this way, those that started it are not forgotten. David was never (and has never been) really forgotten, however, I think part of the significance of what he did has been lost.

Gad the Prophet, instructed David to purchase a specific threshing floor. Why a threshing floor? A threshing floor is typically a hard, flat surface seen as having significant strength. Why that threshing floor? The specific threshing floor Gad directed David to was owned by a Jebusite named Araunah (or Ornan). What is even more significant is where the threshing floor was located. Mount Moriah! Yes, the same Mt. Moriah where Abraham was going to sacrifice his son to God. God (through Gad) directed David to a place where his 14th Great-Grandfather was about to make a sacrificial promise to God and because of his obedience, God promised Abraham that his seed would outnumber the stars and that Abraham would be the Father of many nations. The foundation that David laid for the temple was more significant than David may have even known.

David was approximately 37 years old when he purchased that threshing floor and began making the plans for the Temple. Surely he could have completed it before his death at age 70, right? Between David's sins, the misbehaviors of relatives, wars, and rebellions David didn't have time to progress the building of the Temple, but through overcoming all of those trials and winning wars he inadvertently protected that foundation. If David hadn't purchased it and protected it, Solomon would have had nowhere to build. Such is the significance of completing the task(s) that God has set before you and then knowing when to "pass the baton" for the next phases to be completed. David's contribution to the Temple was no less significant than Solomon's and the glory of it all belonged to God. Click here for part 2.

"6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God made it grow. 7 Because of this, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but the only one who is anything is God who makes it grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters work together, but each one will receive their own reward for their own labor. 9 We are God’s coworkers, and you are God’s field, God’s building." I Corinthians 3:6-9