We wrote about tithing a few weeks ago and shared a 9-point list from a pastor in Seattle on why we should give. I’ve just read 1 Chronicles 29 – not the first chapter one thinks of when the subject of giving comes up – and I think we missed a reason to give:

Giving brings joy.

Here are some snippets:

[David said, ] “So I have provided for the house of my God…the gold…the silver…and the bronze…besides great quantities of onyx and stones for setting, antimony, colored stones, all sorts of precious stones and marble. Moreover, in addition to all that I have provided for the holy house, I have a treasure of my own of gold and silver, and because of my devotion to the house of my God I give it to the house of my God: 3,000 talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and 7,000 talents of refined silver, for overlaying the walls of the house, and for all the work to be done by craftsmen…Who then will offer willingly, consecrating himself today to the LORD?”

Then the leaders of fathers’ houses made their freewill offerings, as did also the leaders of the tribes, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and the officers over the king’s work. They gave for the service of the house of God 5,000 talents and 10,000 darics of gold, 10,000 talents of silver, 18,000 talents of bronze and 100,000 talents of iron. And whoever had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of the LORD, in the care of Jehiel the Gershonite. Then the people rejoiced because they had given willingly, for with a whole heart they had offered freely to the LORD. David the king also rejoiced greatly. (1 Chronicles 29.2 – 9, ESV, emphasis mine)

Then David prays:

…I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you… (1 Chronicles 29.17, ESV, emphasis mine)

And finally,

All the assembly blessed the LORD, the God of their fathers, and bowed their heads and paid homage to the LORD and to the king. And they offered sacrifices to the LORD, and on the next day offered burnt offerings to the LORD, 1,000 bulls, 1,000 rams, and 1,000 lambs, with their drink offerings, and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel. And they ate and drank before the LORD on that day with great gladness. (1 Chronicles 29.20 – 22, ESV, emphasis mine)

It’s hard to improve on that…

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9.7, ESV)

And the people were full of a sense of celebration—all that giving! And all given willingly, freely! King David was exuberant. (1 Chronicles 29.9, MSG)

We’re wrapping up 1 Chronicles with King David’s last instructions. In chapter 28, he’s getting Solomon ready to build the Temple. The chapter opens this way:

David called together all the leaders of Israel—tribal administrators, heads of various governmental operations, military commanders and captains, stewards in charge of the property and livestock belonging to the king and his sons—everyone who held responsible positions in the kingdom. (1 Chronicles 28.1, MSG)

This would be a boring sentence, except the text had just listed all those people (1 Chronicles 27). I’m reminded again of what we quoted from Peterson’s introduction to 1 Chronicles:

The task of Chronicles was to recover and restore Israel’s confidence and obedience as God’s people. Names launch this story—page after page of names. Holy history is not constructed from impersonal forces or abstract ideas; it is woven from names—persons, each one unique. There is no true storytelling without names. Chronicles erects a solid defense against depersonalized religion. – From The Message, Introduction to Chronicles

The book begins with nine chapters of names and ends with five chapters of names (23 – 27 – we wrote about the musicians a few days ago). God’s story moves along with real people in real places. David is acutely aware of his place:

GOD chose me out of my family to be king over Israel forever. First he chose Judah as the lead tribe, then he narrowed it down to my family, and finally he picked me from my father’s sons, pleased to make me the king over all Israel. And then from all my sons—and GOD gave me many!—he chose my son Solomon to sit on the throne of GOD’s rule over Israel. (1 Chronicles 28.4, 5, MSG)

David is aware of his place AND his responsibility: to help Solomon do his job well.

Then David gave Solomon his son the plan of the vestibule of the temple, and of its houses, its treasuries, its upper rooms, and its inner chambers, and of the room for the mercy seat; and the plan of all that he had in mind for the courts of the house of the LORD, all the surrounding chambers, the treasuries of the house of God, and the treasuries for dedicated gifts… (1 Chronicles 28.11, 12, MSG)

David gave Solomon the plans, and, as we’ll see in the next chapter, the materials. But more importantly, he gave Solomon encouragement:

Be careful now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary; be strong and do it…Be strong and courageous and do it. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the LORD God, even my God, is with you. He will not leave you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the LORD is finished. (1 Chronicles 28.10, 20, MSG)

Be strong, courageous, and do the work. It’s a good word. The same word the Lord gave to Joshua:

Strength! Courage! You are going to lead this people to inherit the land that I promised to give their ancestors. Give it everything you have, heart and soul…Strength! Courage! Don’t be timid; don’t get discouraged. God, your God, is with you every step you take.” (Joshua 1.6, 9, MSG)

Words have power. Here’s what Luke said about John the Baptist:

There was a lot more of this—words that gave strength to the people, words that put heart in them. The Message! (Luke 3.18, MSG)

I shared some highlights from Psalm 40 yesterday, emphasizing David’s deliverance from some of his troubles seemingly recorded in Psalm 38 and 39. My son David had been reading Psalm 40 around the same time, and God showed him something completely different.

David is an excellent pianist, and when he plays he’s almost as fun to watch as to listen to. A feeler, just like his Biblical namesake:

And David danced before the LORD with all his might. (2 Samuel 6.14, ESV)

So here’s what my David saw in Psalm 40:

I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; behold, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O LORD. I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation. (Psalm 40.9, 10, ESV)

“I have not restrained my lips.” No restraint. My son David says, “I will not apologize for the way I worship.”

Moreover, just as King David “did not restrain” himself, neither does God:

As for you, O LORD, you will not restrain your mercy from me; your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me! (Psalm 40.11, ESV)

“You, O LORD, will not restrain your mercy…” Isn’t that good? We can and should worship “without restraint” because God offers his mercy “without restraint.”

Often, the only time we worship without restraint is at a football game!

And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” (Revelation 4.8 – 11, ESV)

After recalling really tough times in Psalms 38 and 39, David records relief in Psalm 40:

“To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David”

I waited patiently for God to help me; then he listened and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out from the bog and the mire, and set my feet on a hard, firm path, and steadied me as I walked along. He has given me a new song to sing, of praises to our God. Now many will hear of the glorious things he did for me, and stand in awe before the Lord, and put their trust in him. ( Psalm 40.1 – 3, TLB)

A good list worth looking at:

I waited patiently for God to help me; then

• he listened and heard my cry.
• He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out from the bog and the mire, and
• [he] set my feet on a hard, firm path, and steadied me as I walked along.
• He has given me a new song to sing, of praises to our God.

Now many will hear of the glorious things he did for me, and stand in awe before the Lord, and put their trust in him. ( Psalm 40.1 – 3, TLB, bulleted for clarity)

Early in our marriage, June and I were greatly encouraged by Psalm 40.5:

Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; And Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. (NKJV)

A prayer for us all…

But may the joy of the Lord be given to everyone who loves him and his salvation. May they constantly exclaim, “How great God is!” (Psalm 40.16, TLB)

One thing to appreciate about the Bible in general and the psalms in particular is that we need not pretend that all is well when it’s not. Psalms 38 and 39 describe such a period in the life of David. Here are some highlights.

O Lord, don’t punish me while you are angry! Your arrows have struck deep; your blows are crushing me. Because of your anger, my body is sick, my health is broken beneath my sins. They are like a flood, higher than my head; they are a burden too heavy to bear…Meanwhile my enemies are trying to kill me. They plot my ruin and spend all their waking hours planning treachery. (Psalm 38.1 – 4…12, TLB)

Psalm 38 ends with a prayer. What else can he do?

Don’t leave me, Lord; don’t go away! (Psalm 38.21, TLB)

The problems continue into Psalm 39, written to be performed by Jeduthun, whom we met yesterday.

“To the choirmaster: to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.”

I said to myself, I’m going to quit complaining! I’ll keep quiet, especially when the ungodly are around me. (Psalm 39.1, TLB)

Then a perspective on the brevity of life:

Lord, help me to realize how brief my time on earth will be. Help me to know that I am here for but a moment more. My life is no longer than my hand! My whole lifetime is but a moment to you. Proud man! Frail as breath! A shadow! And all his busy rushing ends in nothing. He heaps up riches for someone else to spend. And so, Lord, my only hope is in you. (Psalm 39.4 – 7, TLB)

And he ends, again, with a prayer:

Save me from being overpowered by my sins, for even fools will mock me then…Lord, don’t hit me anymore—I am exhausted beneath your hand…Hear my prayer, O Lord; listen to my cry! Don’t sit back, unmindful of my tears. For I am your guest. I am a traveler passing through the earth, as all my fathers were. Spare me, Lord! Let me recover and be filled with happiness again before my death. (Psalm 39.8, 10, 12, 13, TLB)

Deliverance seems to come in Psalm 40. Stay tuned. In the meantime, life was tough for the Apostle Paul, also:

Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. (2 Corinthians 11.23 – 27, ESV)

A shout-out to those who are persisting in our reading through the Historical Books of the Old Testament… 1 Chronicles is tough going, opening with nine chapters of genealogy and closing with several chapters of how David’s kingdom was organized.

I’m pleased to say that an entire chapter is devoted to the musicians, of which I am one (see bobplayspiano.com). Here’s a sample:

David and the chiefs of the service also set apart for the service the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who prophesied with lyres, with harps, and with cymbals…the sons of Jeduthun…who prophesied with the lyre in thanksgiving and praise to the LORD…the sons of Heman…the king’s seer, according to the promise of God to exalt him, for God had given Heman fourteen sons and three daughters. They were all under the direction of their father in the music in the house of the LORD with cymbals, harps, and lyres for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the order of the king. The number of them along with their brothers, who were trained in singing to the LORD, all who were skillful, was 288. (1 Chronicles 25.1 – 7, ESV)

Trained singers and instrumentalists: cymbals, harps, and lyres. “All who were skillful…” 

Sacred music has a long and storied tradition! I know there are a few church traditions who do not use instruments in their worship services. While I admire the quality of their a capella singing, scripture seems to support the idea that God likes it all: singers AND musicians.

Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD! (Psalm 150.3 – 6 ESV)

And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5.8 – 10, ESV, emphasis mine)

A good word from Sahil Bloom, August 21, 2024…

Advice is overrated (and action is underrated).

There’s a famous story about Mozart that I love:

A young man asked Mozart how to write a symphony. Mozart replied, “You’re far too young to write a symphony.” The young man then said, “What? You were writing symphonies when you were 10, and I’m 21.” Mozart smiled and replied, “Yes, but I didn’t go around asking people how to do it.”

You can read a lot of books and talk to a lot of people, but ultimately, you just have to figure things out for yourself. Advice gathering can quickly become procrastination in disguise if you let it.

Prioritize action: Take some advice, act on it, adjust accordingly.

…

The beautiful thing about life is that no matter where you are today—no matter how deep in the darkness—you are always just one good decision away from being in a better place tomorrow.

Focus on that one decision in front of you. Don’t worry about the hundreds or thousands of decisions that you still have to make to get to where you want to be—just focus on the next decision.

Just start walking. – Sahil Bloom

It’s good counsel. On balance, of course. It’s always good to seek counsel, but not interminably. I just talked with a friend whose former pastor couldn’t make a decision and wouldn’t even act on decisions allegedly made by the board of elders. I told a young friend who has just been appointed to a leadership position, “Don’t be that guy.” As Sahil wrote in another newsletter, which I quoted a few months ago:

Stop gathering more information and start acting on the information you already have.

Keep traveling steadily along his pathway… (Psalm 37.34, TLB)

Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision.” And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, “Let us rise up and build.” So they strengthened their hands for the good work. (Nehemiah 2.17, 18, ESV)

Two local news stories are making the same point, that meeting an ill-constructed standard is meaningless.

The first involves the amphitheater I wrote about a few days ago. The real and ongoing story is the excessive noise. Some folks who live several miles away claim they’re being kept awake if they try to go to bed before the concert is over. But the response of officials, dutifully repeated in the media, is the noise levels are within the boundaries set by the City Council.

Ford operates under an agreement with Colorado Springs that allows it to exceed the usual 50-55 decibel (dB) limit placed on outside, human-made sounds in residential areas. Fifty dB is equivalent to normal conversation levels, car traffic or kitchen appliances. But thanks to its Noise Hardship Permit, the city raised that significantly. The agreement states that amplified sounds are not allowed to exceed more than 110 dB for five minutes at a time, or average out to 105 dB for the same amount of time. – Denver Post, September 5, 2024

110 dB isn’t twice 55 dB. It’s a logarithmic scale, and every 3 dB is a doubling of sound intensity. 103 dB is a jet flying over at 100 feet. 110 dB is a jackhammer. So to say, “I don’t know what you’re complaining about. Our sound levels are within legal limits,” doesn’t mean anything if the legal limits are outrageously high.

Seemingly unrelated but making the same point is this story about demonstrating math proficiency for high school graduation:

Colorado next month may lower the passing score on high school math tests many students use to meet graduation requirements, the latest potential fallout from test scores that fell dramatically this year.

Without such a change, it’s possible graduation rates could drop for the Class of 2025, Colorado Department of Education officials told the State Board of Education on Thursday.

To graduate from high school in Colorado, students must show proficiency in English and math. Using SAT scores is the most common way that districts offer students to meet that requirement, since the test is already administered to students in their junior year…

The proposed change the State Board is considering would lower the minimum passing score on the math portion of the SAT from 500 to 480. Without that change, officials say the percentage of students who can use their SAT score to meet graduation requirements will drop from 45% in 2023 to 39% with these results. That means about 3,400 students might be looking for a last-minute alternative to meet graduation requirements before May. – Denver Post, September 3, 2024

Let me see if I’ve got this right: some kids can’t do math well enough to use their SAT scores to meet the standard for graduation so the solution is to lower the passing score from 500 to 480. Nowhere was it suggested that the solution might be to double down on math teaching so the kids were competent in math! By the way, 500 is not a high score.

Neither has it yet been suggested by the amphitheater owner that the amphitheater should decrease its volume. “After all, we’re within the standard!”

Jesus’ standards haven’t changed. Salvation is free, but discipleship is hard:

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior… (Titus 3.4 – 6, NIV)

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14.25 – 27, ESV)

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. (John 6.66, ESV)

Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth. – John Wesley

Speaking of being part of the process, Frank Dennis, the missionary doctor, 95 years old, that I wrote about a few days ago, just passed on a story that supports two themes. One is that we don’t work for God, we work with God – part of the process. The second theme is that God is not just an idea, he’s real and involved. Frank and his wife, newly in Taiwan, were driving…

We came to the town of Yuli and I remembered that a missionary I had met at a conference was working there. I asked where does the foreigner live and knocked on his door. Blake Bradley opened the door and said, “Frank ,you are an answer to prayer!” At that very moment members of the Bunan tribal church were having a prayer meeting at his home, praying for a member and elder of the church who had been bitten by a 100 pacer snake and was at that moment on the operating table in the nearby government hospital . They were in prayer because the surgeon wanted to remove his leg to save his life but the family would not sign the permit. They felt he would be better off dead than to be a one-legged man in the mountains. In 1966 artificial limbs were not as good as they are today. The special meeting was praying for what to do next? And I knocked on the door! That was the first and last time I was ever in that village and my timing was obviously an answer to their prayer. Blake said, “Let’s go to the hospital immediately.” and of course I agreed but was thinking, “What am I going to do in a hospital where nobody knows me and a government hospital at that!“

But I saw God was answering their prayer and that should include opening a door for me, right? “Let’s go!” No one was in the hospital to stop us as we went to the OR. Ignoring the keep out sign I pushed open the OR doors and from inside behind a mask someone said “Tan Yisheng, Jin lai, bangmang!” 譚醫⽣，進來幫忙！ “Dr Dennis, Come in and help!” “Who are you and how do you know my name?” “I am Dr. Li. When I was at the Air Force hospital in Chiayi I took time off and visited the Pingtung Christian hospital, and you taught me polio operations!” He was the only doctor that ever did that about a year earlier! God had really opened a perfect door!

Now the question was what am I gonna do for this poor man. I had very little experience with snakebite but it was obvious that his problem was that his blood would not clot because of the poison of the venom. “Why do you want to amputate his leg? “”Because he cut the wound with a dirty knife and if I stop the bleeding with silk sutures it will get infected and he may get gangrene and die. “Why don’t you use catgut suture which will absorb? That should prevent the infection.” We don’t have any! “A nurse said we have some in the storeroom that no one has ever used. Using the catgut suture the worst bleeding was controlled, but not only his wounds were bleeding but also there was blood in his catheter and from his nose and eyes.

“He will have to have a lot of fresh blood to really control his bleeding. Keep giving it to him until he stops the bleeding. The fresher the blood the better!”

Much later I met Blake and asked him what was God doing with that amazing exhibition of answered prayer. He said, “Well first of all the Bunan church members were lined up to give blood for him. The hospital staff were very impressed at the love of the Christians for each other. When he was finally well he went around the mountains preaching very effectively that his life was saved by the blood from the serpent’s poison by the blood of people who loved him, just like his life was saved from Satan’s poison which we all have by the blood of Jesus. Jesus didn’t give his blood into a nice clean blood bag but on the cross for our sin. People realized that Christianity isn’t just another religion but is actually all the people who have been saved by Jesus’ blood… It’s a personal thing, not just something you sign up for. All a sinner has to do is to is admit that he needs a savior and then ask Jesus to become his Savior and Lord.”

Frank would have been 37 years old in 1966, just starting out, and he’s still working with God nearly 60 years later!

But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” (John 5.17, ESV)

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace… (Ephesians 1.7, ESV)

I wrote yesterday about a poorly performing pianist giving a concert. It was clear to me that whatever strengths this guy has, music isn’t one of them. I’m reminded of the movie Rudy. It’s the true story of an undersized guy who wanted to play football for Notre Dame. He wasn’t even academically qualified to get into Notre Dame, but he persisted academically, got accepted to Notre Dame after several tries, walked on to the football team, and ended up on the daily practice squad. He finally gets into the last game of his senior year. It’s an inspiring story. I teared up again just reading the plot synopsis.

But it’s the same question as yesterday. Why would a guy want to do something that he’ll never be good at? StrengthsFinder is a popular assessment tool, and the book that introduces the concept opens with the story of Rudy. Author Don Clifton, while acknowledging that it’s a feel good story, is not a fan. He argues, as I asked, why would someone pursue an activity that’s not within their strengths?

My friend Ray, who loves the movie, answered the question:

He wanted to be part of the process.

As I wrote about my Lego Notre Dame Cathedral, each of the 4,383 pieces is an essential part of the structure. Some are not even visible. Some parts are generic – you might see parts just like them in another Lego project. Other parts are specialized. But all are vital.

In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2.21 – 22, NIV)

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2.10, NIV)