“There are times when our peace is based upon ignorance, but when we awaken to the facts of life, inner peace is impossible unless it is received from Jesus … If you are not right with God, you can never turn your mind anywhere but on yourself. If you allow anything to hide the face of Jesus Christ from you, you are either disturbed of you have a false security. Are you looking unto Jesus now, in the immediate matter that is pressing and receiving peace from Him? If so, He will be a gracious benediction of peace in and through you. But if you try to worry it out, you obliterate Him and deserve all you get. We get disturbed because we have not been considering Him.” -Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, August 26.
2 Chronicles 29:25-26
25 Hezekiah stationed the Levites in the Lord’s temple with cymbals, harps, and lyres according to the command of David, Gad the king’s seer, and the prophet Nathan. For the command was from the Lord through his prophets. 26 The Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets.
Could an argument be made here for use of instruments in all churches? The Church of Christ (which i was raised in) doesn’t allow instruments, all singing is A Capella. I once asked, when I was older and no longer attended a Church of Christ, an older gentleman from that church why instruments weren’t allowed. His reply: “So they would have something to argue over.” The gentleman is very wise.
2 Chronicles 29:36
36 Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over how God had prepared the people, for it had come about suddenly.
Isn’t it amazing how there always seems to be the pieces to do the thing God wants us to be doing? He puts all the resources there but we must make the moves. The huge amounts of animals (verses 32 and 33): 670 bulls, 3,300 sheep and goats weren’t something that only took a few months to procure. Having this many animals–especially to slaughter (see yesterday’s post on resource management), it is awe-inspiring.
That is a massive number of animals, an amazing amount of resources provided by the Lord, long before the people even knew they were going to need the resource.
But they recognized that everything came from God, even when they didn’t know they would need or want that resource.