138 - "Passionate Attachment to the Wrong Things"

I've sinned greatly by doing this.
I beg You, my God, to take away my guilt.
I have done a very foolish thing: to number my fighting men.
I Chronicles 21:8

Ownership!
Oh! That we all respond like this king of old when we stumble down paths that were never ever meant to be.  Joab tried to talk David out of numbering his fighting men.  Joab knew it was wrong; David knew it was wrong.  But, the King's word overruled his subject.  Trumped by an evil thought. Stunned by a very Good God, David responded with a swift surrendered heart.  And, it was the time when kings go out to war.  David did not join in the season and his heart is captured by his surroundings.  May we be at the right place at the right time with blinders on to this world of ours tugging at the skirts of our hearts.

Quicken my heart to be as swift a runner as this seasoned heart of David, the king after Your very own heart.  Oh God!  Change me!

" I Chronicles 22:1 shows this restored community that everything, even their failures, points them to the priority of putting Me first in their lives.  My Son made that possible.  He is your ticket to the party.  You will enjoy that hope only in the temple."  66 LL.  And where is the Temple today?  I Cor. 6:19-20 says our body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  Not our own!  Bought with a price!  Therefore glorify God and worship Him alone~

"When you feel empty tomorrow, when life's troubles and disappointments continue, you will be tempted to devote more energy to making your life better than to drawing closer to Me.----- [Wait!  I feel awfully empty today wrestling with those who don't want to be in my presence]---- It is not easy to practice the priority of rebuilding the temple over rebuilding your life.  And it's difficult even to know when you're violating it."  So, what captures my energy?  Am I trying to make my life better or more concerned about drawing near to God?

"Now, my son, the Lord be with you, and may you have success and build the house of the Lord your God, as he said you would. May the Lord give you discretion and understanding when he puts you in command over Israel, so that you may keep the law of the Lord your God. Then you will have success if you are careful to observe the decrees and laws that the Lord gave..." I Chron 22:11

If we set our face like a flint.  If we surrender in sweat and tears.  If we humble ourselves to look within.  If we live in the moment not the past or future.  If we abandon control and trust braving the wind. That is so many "if's" and I can't keep them all.  All I can do is try to live courageous.  And never let fear or discouragement define my life.  Because the Lord is with us, we can build our houses and follow Him pushing through the fear and discouragement.  

The most beautiful moments of his life happened last evening on Sabbath Sunday as he breathed his last breath on Earth and moved to Another Time, straight into the presence of his waiting Ever-Present Eternal God who called his name, Max Barnett. His great success was building the Kingdom of God and many people will join him in Heaven because of the Gospel that Max shared with them, the power of salvation. Isaiah 45:22. And, he devoted his entire life to drawing nearer to God not trying to make life better on earth. God doesn't quite look at accomplishment quite like we do. Max lived fully alive. "It is a grand thing to see a man dying full of life." Charles Spurgeon. God's Word was always on his mind and heart, like a fire shut up in his bones. Jeremiah 20:9. I first met Max in 1976 in Titusville, Florida. I still remember what he told me that first encounter: "Bev, look at all those people out there---who is watching and caring for them? Go and make disciples." And I remember the last time I saw him in February 2026 at his Celebration of life

God doesn't look at accomplishment quite like we do.  No big people and no little people in His Kingdom.  Keep the charge this day, no matter where you are.  David kept on building the temple.  Keep on keeping on building this temple in which we live---to our dying day.  For etched in David's mind was I Chronicles 22:19:  Set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God.  Arise and Build.

"David was old and full of days."  I Chron 23:1.  And my ears perk up.  Because I. am. full. of. 20,000 days.  He made Solomon his son king over Israel.  So, here's the son acceptable in the eyes of God no more, no less than his father---a man after God's own heart.  May we all do the work before us today, fitting together, because we are:  letters of Christ, 2 Corinthians 3:2, cared for by many, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God.  Not on tablets of stones but on tablets of human hearts.  Oh God!  

PHOTO:  The Gulf of Mexico where I've dropped a few tears and longed to draw closer to Him.