David’s Attitude towards Money

At the end of David’s life, both in 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles we find catalogues of his preparations for the temple Solomon would build. The riches David accumulated for the task are laid out, the charge is given to Solomon and the people, so that they would get busy with the task before them.

In 1 Chronicles 29, we also have a dedicatory prayer by David for the goods he provided and the work he planned. The prayer opens with praise to God:

^{1 Chr 29.10-13} ¶ So David blessed the LORD in the sight of all the assembly; and David said, “Blessed are You, O LORD God of Israel our father, forever and ever. ¹¹ “Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O LORD, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. ¹² “Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone. ¹³ “Now therefore, our God, we thank You, and praise Your glorious name.

Next, David thanks God for the opportunity to give to this great project.

^{1 Chr 29.14-17} ¶ “But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this? For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You. ¹⁵ “For we are sojourners before You, and tenants, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope. ¹⁶ “O LORD our God, all this abundance that we have provided to build You a house for Your holy name, it is from Your hand, and all is Yours. ¹⁷ “Since I know, O my God, that You try the heart and delight in uprightness, I, in the integrity of my heart, have willingly offered all these things; so now with joy I have seen Your people, who are present here, make their offerings willingly to You.

This portion of the prayer impressed me on a recent re-reading of it. Notice what David says about giving and about money in general.

1. The ability to give generously comes from God (14)
2. We are merely sojourners in this life, we bring nothing into it, take nothing from it, and occupy our days like a shadow that is soon past (15)
3. The source of our wealth, our abundance, is God who gives us life and health to earn and get gain, to put by for a rainy day, to invest in God’s kingdom, to live from day to day — it all comes from God. (16)
4. The believer who takes God’s view of money rejoices in the opportunity to give money and goods and time to the Lord’s work — willingly (17)

These themes, we know, are how we should think about money. We are stewards of our time and its resources. We labor, we save, we invest, we wait. In a free society, all things being equal (good health and enough time) such a life will set by many things in store. Some will set by more than others, but we know all of it comes from God.

With that in mind, when there are good works for God that need doing, we all should with willing hearts do what we can to promote those good works. We don’t have a temple to build, but we have local church ministries to support, we have world-wide missions to support, and we have individual ministry opportunities to involve ourselves in. We should willingly give what we can to these things, both time and money, as the Lord prospers. It is all his anyway.

The prayer closes with these words:

^{1 Chr 29.18-19} “O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, our fathers, preserve this forever in the intentions of the heart of Your people, and direct their heart to You; ¹⁹ and give to my son Solomon a perfect heart to keep Your commandments, Your testimonies and Your statutes, and to do them all, and to build the temple, for which I have made provision.”

Of course, that is a prayer under the Old Covenant for Old Covenant work. We can translate it to our work in the New Covenant, praying for laborers for the harvest and putting our own shoulder in to do what we can to bring the harvest in for the Lord’s kingdom.

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Don Johnson is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.