The other day I was driving along and saw a new house being constructed. I couldn’t help but notice all around the freshly poured foundation were piles of building supplies. Huge stacks of fresh lumber, pallets of brick, and rows of windows and doors. This house started as a plan within someone’s mind and after the cost had been counted, materials were assembled that would complete the structure. And you’d better believe that just enough was ordered. Just enough to make those specific house plans bear perfect fruition. But what would you think if you drove by a new build site and there was a mountain of lumber that reached into the sky? What if there were countless pallets of brick that extended as far as your eye could behold? What you’d be seeing is unlimited potential.
In 1 Chronicles 22 we see a chapter that is packed full of David preparing Solomon to build the Temple of God. God had given David a house of fine cedar but as David returned the Ark of God back to Jerusalem there was no place for it to rest but inside a simple cloth tent. David’s heart noted the inadequacy and he immediately committed to build God a house just as God had built him a house. But in an odd turn of events, we see some specific instructions from God to David. And they can only be found here in 1 Chronicles 22.
“David said to Solomon: “My son, I had it in my heart to build a house for the Name of the Lord my God. But this word of the Lord came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and have fought many wars. You are not to build a house for my Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight. But you will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name will be Solomon, and I will grant Israel peace and quiet during his reign. He is the one who will build a house for my Name.” 1 Chronicles 22:7-10a
David was built by God to fight, and fight he did. He was defeating giants at 13, assembling mighty men at 30 and conquering and subduing entire kingdoms at 45. David was rugged, tough, and did what needed to be done as God required it. And David did it all with a heart that beat after God’s. As David embraced grand plans to build God a glorious temple this news from God must have been devastating. David, in obedience to God, was faithful to command, fight, and conquer. He was being what God Made him to be, but in this instance, David found himself wrestling with just that. What do you do when being what God made you to be limits you in how you feel called to serve Him? But, David didn’t hear a simple no from God, he instead saw a yes that led in a different direction.
David committed that if he couldn’t build the temple, he would amass the materials for his son Solomon’s future building project. And amass he did. A mountain of freshly cut and dressed fine stone cut by the finest masons. Great quantities of iron nails, iron being one of the newest and most expensive materials in the land. He assembled bronze in a quantity that was “beyond weighing.” And the finest cedar wood was brought from Sidon and Tyre and it was “without number.” David also collected 100,000 talents of gold (209 billion today) and one million talents of silver (30 billion today), to see the project go unhindered due to any cost overruns. As these mountains of building supplies were gazed upon, one thing was clear. David had given Solomon unlimited potential in fulfilling his purpose to the Lord.
Today, most modern lives have seemingly unlimited potential through seemingly unlimited resources. Here in America, it still remains somewhat easy to earn a large income, if that’s your sole desire. Almost 16% of all Americans make between 100k and 150k annually and as a result, we see countless suburban streets lined with massive homes, shiny new luxury cars in their driveways, and lifestyles that openly exhibit and match their income. But what about purpose?
Our world today is losing sight of true purpose in life. Man has always been asking the age-old question, what is the purpose of life? And sadly, most lives will pass into eternity with that same question coursing through their minds. Without this question being adequately answered, a life will, in its perpetual journey, continue to experience dire disappointment. Without true purpose in one’s life we are seeing various addictions such as alcohol, drugs, porn, social media, and sex, spiral out of control as those lives seek to self-medicate their underlying need. Without a genuine purpose in life, we are seeing lives instead commit to living in sinful self-pleasure, taking pride in alternative lifestyles that will attract the attention they crave. Without purpose our world is seeing the highest rates of suicides it has ever seen, lives that would rather end than go on living a pointless, meaningless life. (In Japan, more people died from suicide in October 2020 than from Covid in Japan in all of 2020.) You see, unlimited resources and unlimited potential cannot replace purpose. And purpose, a true purpose in life, can only come from the one that created that life.
You were made by God; you were not an accident or a random event. God knew you in the womb, he created your cells, wrote your DNA, and constructed your tissue. He orchestrated your emotions, gifted your personality, and determined your strengths and weaknesses. And He did it all so that you could one day discover Him, worship Him, and love Him the way He loved you as He was weaving you together. And as you love Him and ask Jesus Christ to be the Lord of your life, a purpose will be revealed to you. It will not be an earthy purpose, but a purpose for the kingdom of God. A purpose to serve. A purpose to love. A purpose to go and tell. Your purpose. God has a purpose just for you and as He calls you into that purpose, He will gift you with unlimited potential to complete that purpose.
David had a purpose from God. Solomon had a purpose from God. And as David lovingly instructed his son in his purpose, he gave him these words:
“Arise and work! The Lord be with you!” 1 Chronicles 22:16b
As God reveals your purpose, it’s time to get busy. God will not ask anything of you that He does not prepare you for, equip you for, and provide for. God provides us with unlimited potential to fulfill His purpose and do His work. But you are the one that must initiate the action. David supplied the unlimited potential for the Temple of God and Solomon realized his purpose and got busy. Today, I pray that you have discovered your purpose in the Lord. That through daily time in His Word, prayer to Him daily, and quiet times of mediation with His Holy Spirit, He has spoken to you. And that as He did, you embraced that purpose and sought to achieve it with vigor from the Lord utilizing the unlimited potential He supplies.
And as far as that age old question of purpose? Well, if you are a child of the Lord Jesus Christ, it’s simple. Love God, Love others and tell the world about Jesus.
If you’re reading this you’re being prayed for, in turn, pray for others.
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