By Debbie Christopher ~~No, the list included in the verse above isn't a to-do checklist that brings stress. Instead, it includes a list that can relieve stress, as it includes of some of the wonderful attributes of our great God. Actually, the list continues in the verses that follow in that particular passage.
Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty, for everything in the heavens and on earth belongs to You. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom, and You are exalted as head over all. Riches and honor come from You, and You are the ruler of everything. Power and might are in Your hand, and it is in Your hand to make great and to give strength to all. Now therefore, our God, we give You thanks and praise Your glorious name.”
1 Chronicles 29:11-13 HCSB
Let me share the event that brought this passage to my attention some 30 years ago.
I was teaching third grade at a Christian school in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area when the Gulf War began in 1990. Several of my students had relatives that had been deployed to the area. 'Somehow' I came across this passage in my Bible reading and knew these HAD to be the verses my class needed.
I chose to have my class read this passage aloud each day as part of our pledge time. And, yes, it wasn't long until several had it memorized and asked if they could say it instead of read it.
Then...
Eleven years years later...September 12th, 2001, I started the same special Bible reading time with a new third grade class in a different state...but the same need for encouragement and an awesome reminder of WHO was in control.
I encourage you to pause and read our passage out loud. When the world seems scary, Who has everything under His sovereign control?
This passage was part King David's farewell address to the people and his charge to his son Solomon that begins in chapter 28. In our featured passage from chapter 29, David turned his words towards God and acknowledged His greatness, reaffirming the fact that the kingdom was actually His.
Although this passage was written thousands of years ago as a backdrop to King David's farewell address...and although the nation of Israel was in peace at the time, we, too, can learn from his words regarding our great sovereign God whenever chaos and uncertainty seem to reign as it did 22 and 30 years ago. The message remains the same either way---a great powerful, sovereign God is still in control.
Everthing we own or do...or go through...is only temporary and should be placed in God's trust.*
Thine oh Lord...
~Debbie
*Walvoord, John F. and Zuck, Roy B. (editors), The Bible Knowledge Commentary-Old Testament, Colorado Springs, CO: Cook Publishing Co., 2004