By Steve Loopstra, Director, Your servant in Christ Ministries

“And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house as the sanctuary. Be strong and do the work.” 1 Chronicles 28:9 –
It seems in these days that the subject of “Fathers” can create a wide range of responses. Partly because many would agree that these younger generations have suffered from a lack of a proper father figure. A number of years ago; I was doing a study with the elders in the church I was pastoring in leadership development. I do not remember the person that was leading the study we were using, but he began his teaching by saying that his father was not a bad father, but that “he walked with a limp.” He explained that his father tried his best, but he had his own issues he was needing and trying to deal with.
If you are a father, I trust you understand that you desire the very best for your children. You also know that you cannot put them in a cocoon to protect them from the issues of life, so you need to train them how to meet these challenges and make the most of their lives, and as believers, to live a life of intimacy and obedience to God.
And if you are a father, or a mother, with any time as a parent, you know that you do not always do it the right way. Because we all walk with a limp. So it is important for us to be humble enough to seek to learn from those who have gone before us. Enter King David.
Here in 1 Chronicles 28, King David has assembled and prepared everything necessary for the building of the temple for Yahweh. And chapter 28 is the beginning of these instructions. David, out of his great love for the Lord, wanted to build a place for Him to dwell among His people, Israel, but God would not allow David to build the temple because he was a man of war, and the Lord designated Solomon to be the one to build the temple. Here in 1 Chronicles 28, David appoints Solomon to build the temple, gives him instructions and them anoints Solomon as the new King of Israel. But I want to focus on David’s instructions to Solomon as a father to his beloved son. Pay attention to what David tells Solomon in this verse. His advice as a father.
The first part of David’s advice is to … acknowledge the God of your father.” Now remember who it is that is giving this advice. David was labeled by Jehovah as “a man after His own heart.” Was David perfect? Far from it! His life was marked by deep and serious sins, and he paid the price of those sins some of the circumstances of his life. That is not the point here. The point here is that beneath his failures, there existed within David a passionate, unquenchable love and passion for God. Look at Psalm 63, “O God, You are my God. Early will I seek You. My soul thirsts for You. My body longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.” The Psalms of the Old Testament are the most popular books of the Bible and the majority of them reflect the heart of David for his God. David says to his son, Solomon, know the God of your father. That word know is a very intimate word, a word that conveys the idea of a deep and intimate relationship. It is used in Genesis to say that Adam “knew” Eve. David says to his son, develop, and nurture and cultivate a deep and intimate knowledge of Yahweh, as I have. Why? Because David learned that it is out of that intimacy and knowledge of God that we have the strength and perspective to overcome and endure the temptations and the challenges of this life in a fallen world. A superficial knowledge of God will not give us what we need to overcome. The Apostle John said it this way in 1 John 5:3 – Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
The second piece of advice that David gave to Solomon was to serve the Lord. And of course, if we truly have that kind of intimate relationship with the Lord, it is only natural that we serve Him. The Bible is full of examples of this but look at the teaching of Jesus here in Matthew 20:28 says, “Even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many”. If you don’t learn how to serve others, you will never grow to spiritual maturity. In fact, you’ll be a spiritual baby your entire life. True greatness comes from servanthood, not from living for yourself. The greatest leaders are those who serve the most.
David says to Solomon, “Serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind.” And it is interesting that later as David is praying over Solomon, that David prays for this in chapter 29 verse 19: “And give my son Solomon a loyal heart to keep Your commandments and Your testimonies and Your statutes to do all these things and to build the temple for which I have made provision.”
Let’s look briefly at these two exhortations to Solomon.
First, a loyal heart. One translation uses the phrase “with all your heart.” The word has the idea of being full and complete. The translation in Chapter 29 verse 19 is a “loyal” heart. In the Bible, a loyal heart is a heart that is completely devoted to God and others and is rooted in faith and love. It is a virtue that involves faithfulness, fidelity, allegiance, and fealty. Faithfulness means being steadfast in loyalty and not easily swayed. Fidelity has the idea of keeping promises and fulfilling duties. Allegiance means being true to an authority or principle in our case, the Word of God. And Fealty has the idea of being faithful to a law or principle that one has pledged to uphold. Just read Psalm 119 to understand more of David’s heart in these matters.
Secondly, David also tells Solomon he needs a willing mind. In the Bible, a willing mind is the act of using one’s best effort, thinking, and wisdom to serve God. It also means being consistent in one’s actions, regardless of whether the task is easy or difficult.
In the Bible the Heart represents love and commitment. The Mind represents giving one’s best effort, thinking, and seeking God’s wisdom. The Bible suggests that there should be a direct connection between hearing and obeying God’s word. David is sharing with his son Solomon from his own experience in his relationship with God the things that are key to deepening that relationship and the key to success in life.
Now there is one last exhortation that David gives to his son Solomon before we conclude this, and it is found in chapter 28 verse 10: “So take this seriously. The Lord has chosen you to build a Temple as his sanctuary. Be strong and do the work.”
Solomon says, God has called you to do this, so gather up your courage, and one idea of this word is to “play the man.” Man up! Don’t shrink back from what God has called you to do. And “just do it!” Execute!
So what is it that you and I can take away from the fatherly advice from King David, a man after God’s own heart?
Well, remember this, you don’t have to be a Solomon to receive this advice. God put it in the Bible for us today in our life circumstances. Here are some take aways –
You are called to serve. If you have a personal relationship with God through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, you are called to serve. And being called is not limited to as we call it “called to the ministry,” being a missionary or pastor. You are called to be an ambassador of the Kingdom of God in the place that you are. The place or circumstances are not what are important. The important thing is that you realize your calling, and that you execute that calling with all you heart, and soul and strength and mind out of sincere passionate love for God. And that you do that with a willing mind to the very best of your ability. And just do it!
Will you always be successful at it? No. Neither was David, neither was Solomon. But the Lord Jesus tells us in Revelation 3:21 – “To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne”. Oh my dear one, the battle is very hard at times, but Jesus promised to be with us and to strengthen us, and when all is done, He, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords will reward us. Peter puts it this way in 1 Peter 1: 6-7 – “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” Peter says endure, just do it, and He will honor you when He comes. That I think is pretty good motivation.
Advice from a father. Will you take his advice? The next step is up to you.