God Is with You
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David said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do it. Don’t be afraid, nor be dismayed, for [the LORD] God, even my God, is with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you, until all the work for the service of [the LORD]’s house is finished.
1 Chronicles 28:20 (WEB)
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We must have a lot of problems with fear.
This advice, be strong and courageous, comes up quite a bit in the Scriptures.
Moses said it to Joshua, and here King David is saying it to his son Solomon.
Or maybe it’s just me who keeps seeing this coming up because of my own struggles with doubt and fear.
Regardless, it’s a series of verses that brings me comfort.
In this case, David had already laid out the gameplan for building up the Temple of the Lord.
Then he went out and gathered all the materials from Israel and the surrounding kingdoms.
Basically handing Solomon the project on a silver platter.
What faithfulness David had to do absolutely everything in his power to set up his son for success without breaking God’s directives.
David would have built the Temple if he could, we know that. But we also know God wouldn’t let him because he was a king of too much war.
Anyway, what I’m taking from this is something similar to the old Hudson Taylor quote:
“Pray as if everything relies on God; work as if everything relies on you.”
Admittedly I’m not great at either of those.
Add that to the list of things I need to keep working on.
But God is faithful and the Holy Spirit keeps working on me.
— Ricky Ketchum
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