Luminescence, Volume 3. C. K. Barrett

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      COMFORT TO THE DISAPPOINTED26

      There are many things in this incident a preacher would be glad and thankful to pass on to the disillusioned and disappointed, but I must put several aside because of a special purpose I have in mind. God knows, and accepts, the generous purpose. “Thou didst well,” He says, “that it was in thine heart.” He, to whom the darkness shineth as the light, is not a glorified policeman looking for crimes. He sees and honors and accepts the secret purposes of the heart. As Browning says, “All I could never be, all men ignored in me, this, I was worth to God, whose wheel the pitcher shaped.”27 Do not be disheartened or cast down because you are not able to do all you have dreamed. The Lord looks on the heart and judgment is according to it.

      But my special point this morning is that here we have a man who could not do all he would but who did what he could. It was made clear to David that his son would build the house of God. A lesser man would have been piqued and peevish and selfish. He would have said, “If he is going to have the honor, let him do the work and make the sacrifices.” But David was cast in a nobler mold than them. He gathered material in abundance so that Solomon’s work would be easier.

      My dear friends, here is both a challenge and duty for us. So long as the work of God is done, what matter is it who does it? A good many of our regrets have self-will and pride in them. We want to do the work and are jealous of those who are chosen above us. Let us rather be grateful that Solomon executed what David proposed and that God always has those who will carry on the work. The duty is equally clear. We can make it easier for those who come after us to do the work. We can toil and sacrifice to give them the chance we never had, never mind who gets the honor when the temple is built!

      A WORD TO THOSE WHO WILL BUILD THE TEMPLE