Friday, April 9, 2021

The King's Work

 

For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

Than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD will give grace and glory;

No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, Blessed is the man who trusts in You!

     Psalm 84:10-12 (NKJV)

After celebrating the mountaintop glory of Christ’s resurrection at Easter, it can be a let-down to get back to the normal routine of life and work. Yet God calls us to do everything for His glory (1 Corinth. 10:31) and that includes what we do every day.  We’re to think of doing our work as worship and even the mundane tasks of our daily life are worthy when offered to God.

One illustration of this is in 1 Chronicles chapters 1-9, which lists the genealogies of “all Israel” and records many of their jobs and daily life. They went to battle, got married, had children, died. Some called on God, some did wickedly.  Interestingly, it says that some were potters, some dwelt among the plants and hedges, and “there they dwelt with the king for his work” (1 Chron. 4:23, NKJV).  Doing it for the King makes all the difference.

 

As the psalmist notes, even one day with the Lord is better than a thousand without Him, and being a doorkeeper in God’s house is better than dwelling in the world’s wickedness.  We are blessed to be saved and redeemed, but that doesn’t mean we live in idleness.  We have work to do and we must take care of our families and homes, which involves many routine and even tedious tasks.  Yet if we submit everything we do to God as an offering, He gives us grace sufficient for all we do.

 

I read about a community of believers who worked at the Dohnavur Fellowship in India, toiling day in and day out at menial jobs. Yet their faces were radiant and their smiles joyful despite the drudgery of their lives.  There was a plaque on a wall where they worked and it said “There they dwelt with the King for His work.”  May that attitude be ours as we offer all we do in service for the King.

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