Читать книгу Luminescence, Volume 3 - C. K. Barrett - Страница 26

(Preached at Spring Head Mission 10/17/1943 and at Bishop Street 8/11/46)

1 Kings 8.17–19 “It was in the heart of David . . . to build a house for the name of the LORD . . . and the LORD said . . . whereas it was in thine heart to build a house unto my name . . . nevertheless, thou shalt not build the house, but thy son . . . he shall build the house to my name.”

David’s purpose to build a house for the worship of God seems to have been altogether pure and generous. He could not bear the thought that, while he himself dwelt in a house of cedar, the ark of God rested under curtains. His proposition to build commended itself to the judgment of Nathan the prophet, who said, “Go, do all that is in thine heart.” Yet for all that, David was forbidden to carry his scheme into effect: the purpose never became a performance. God made it clear to him that he was not to realize his heart’s desire. The house would be built, but not by David’s hands.

Though there are many fine things in David’s life, I know nothing finer than the spirit in which he accepted the denial of his desire and the refusal of his proffered gift. There was nothing little or peevish about him when he learned that the desire he sought had been granted to another. I will come back to that presently, for the moment let us think of how this incident illuminates life’s unaccomplished aims.

There are many whose generous purposes are broken off and whose grand designs never become deeds. The broken column in the churchyard is a symbol of unrealized dreams and broken hopes. But this thing is true to life as well as to death. There are reasons, physical, psychological, emotional, why many never fulfill all that it is in their hearts to do. They plan in marble, but have to build in brick. Their paths find extension in Anne Bronte’s words: “I hoped, . . . with the brave and strong.” We recognize that the lot of all is such.

Whatever it cost Solomon to build the temple, it cost David a great deal more to relinquish the grand design. However much some of us complain of the roles we are fulfilling, be sure there are those, denied our opportunities, who would give much to take our places and handle the spade and the trowel. The incident does more than set the problem, it supplies needed—

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