”"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.
1 Chronicles 28:9New International Version (NIV)
1 Chronicles 28:9 (Daily Bible Verse)
Serve God with wholehearted devotion and a willing mind
In 1 Chronicles 28:9, King David, after addressing the assembly of Israel, turned to his son Solomon and charged him to: “acknowledge God, and ‘serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind‘, for God searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought” (1 Chronicles 28:9a). And he added that “If he [Solomon] would seek God, he would find Him; but if he forsook Him, He would reject him forever” (1 Chronicles 28:9b).
But before this, David charged Solomon to: “Carefully follow all the commands of the Lord his God, that he may possess the good land and pass it on as an inheritance to his descendants forever” (1 Chronicles 28:8). He then charged Solomon to acknowledge God and serve Him wholeheartedly and willingly.
At the time, David having become old, made Solomon the king of Israel and organized the Israelites for the building of the temple (1 Chronicles 23:1-27:34) (1 Chronicles 28:20). Thereafter, he assembled Israel’s officials, his sons, and the warriors, and charged them with building the temple and observing God’s commands. He was motivated by the fact that Solomon was God’s choice for the kingship of Israel (1 Chronicles 28:1-8).
David’s wisdom for his son Solomon and the people of Israel
Therefore, David, at the end of his reign, as he passed on the leadership baton of the throne to his son, Solomon, called an assembly of the people of Israel to share with them words of wisdom. He had some last words of wisdom to give to his son and the assembly of Israel.
King David knew the weight and responsibility of leading God’s people. Possibly, he looked back over his own life and realized that he would always find himself searching for God, whether for direction or wisdom, or comfort or protection.
Search for God
He, therefore, clearly understood what it meant to search for God. And so, he charged Solomon to serve God by first acknowledging (knowing) Him. For Solomon to know Him, he had to seek Him. And for Solomon to find Him, he had to seek Him through His Word, which is His basic revelation of Himself.
The beauty is, God has assured you and me of finding Him when we seek Him. This is a truth that is echoed in James 4:8 (“Come near to God and he will come near to you”) and Isaiah 55:6 (“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near”). And after you have found Him, then you can know Him.
Thereafter, you can serve Him effectively. Because serving God without knowing Him first, is literally “putting the cart before the horse”.
Serve God with wholehearted devotion and a willing mind
Additionally, when you serve God, you have to serve Him His way, which is to “serve Him with wholehearted devotion and a willing mind”. This is the second quality that He searches for and understands.
Therefore, 1 Chronicles 28:9 is wise counsel for the service of God. The same is true in Matthew 22:37, where Jesus said that you ought to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”.
Prayer
Lord, my desire is to serve you effectively. I, therefore, pray that you help me to you to serve You Your way. And I also pray that I may get to know you deeply.
This is my prayer to You in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Daily Bible Reading
2 Samuel 1-2 (see How to Read the Bible in One Year or How to Read the Bible (for Beginners))
