“Then the people rejoiced, because they had given willingly. For, with a whole heart they had offered freely to the Lord. David, the king also rejoiced greatly.”
– 1 Chronicles 29:9
And that’s a great picture when people are giving offerings for the construction of the temple. They’re rejoicing as they give, like there is joy in giving when that giving is done willingly. That people rejoiced because they had given willingly. For, with a whole heart they are offered freely to the Lord. You see the descriptions of giving here, willing giving. Free giving out of the overflow of their whole hearts, and this kind of giving leads to great joy. David, the king also rejoiced greatly.
Help us to trust you that there is joy found in giving. Not in storing up more treasures on earth, but in storing up treasure in heaven.
And so we see in 1 Chronicles 29:9, a principle, a truth that we see all over the Bible that goes totally against the grain of the way we are wired to think in this world. We are wired every one of us to think that joy is found in getting, having more. If we want to be happy, if we want to experience joy, then we need to get more stuff. Then we need to have more things. Even that joy is found in hoarding, in getting and having far more than we need or could ever need.
And the Bible tells us over and over and over again, that joy is found not in having and hoarding but in sacrificing and giving generously. Not because we have to, but because we are willing to. Willingly, freely with a whole heart because we get to. Because God has given us grace, and the possessions we have to be able to give for the good of others and to be able to give for the glory of His name.
1 Chronicles 29:9 Reminds Us of the Spirit We Should Have When We Give
Oh, God, produce this kind of joy in our lives we pray. Help us to trust you that there is joy found in giving. Not in storing up more treasures on earth, but in storing up treasure in heaven. God, we pray even, especially, as we come to the end of a year. And as we think about giving in our churches and giving to the work of the gospel around the world, God help us to be willing and free in our giving. And to experience joy in doing so, God, for the building up of your church. For the building up of your body, your bride. Help us to give willingly and freely with our whole hearts toward that end.
If they did this for the building of a temple in 1 Chronicles 29, how much more should we do this for the building of your household? For the building of your church, and for the spread of your glory among the nations? God help us to give for the spread of the gospel to 3 billion people who have little to no knowledge of it. God help us to give willingly and freely with our whole hearts toward that end. That Arabic men and women and children in Egypt, millions of them who don’t know your love in Jesus mighty, hear about your love in Jesus.
Prayer To Give Joyfully
God, we pray, help us to give freely and willingly with our whole hearts toward that end. God, we pray that you would produce this counter-cultural, otherworldly joy rejoicing in our hearts. We pray for this joy found in 1 Chronicles 29:9 over our lives and our families and our churches. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. And as we pray this, I do want to add, say this periodically, one, I hope the overflow of praying this is zeal to give to your local church and the building up of your local church. And then I want to encourage you also, when it comes to opportunities to give to the spread of the gospel among the unreached on the front lines of urgent, spiritual and physical need, so radical has created an avenue specifically for that. For giving to the front lines of urgent need.
I encourage you to go to urgentneeds.org and learn about how you can be a part of coming alongside our indigenous brothers and sisters all around the world and making the gospel and the glory of Christ known in places where his name is not now known. May God give us grace as His church to give willingly and freely with our whole hearts for His glory in His church and among the nations.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
