1 Chron 16 Make a Covenant Exchange

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

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1 Chron 16

1 So they brought the Ark of God into the special tent David had prepared for it, and they sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings before God. 2 When he had finished, David blessed the people in the name of the LORD. 3 Then he gave a gift of food to every man and woman in Israel: a loaf of bread, a cake of dates, F109 and a cake of raisins. 4 David appointed the following Levites to lead the people in worship before the Ark of the LORD by asking for his blessings and giving thanks and praise to the LORD, the God of Israel. 5 Asaph, the leader of this group, sounded the cymbals. His assistants were Zechariah (the second), then Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel. They played the harps and lyres. 6 The priests, Benaiah and Jahaziel, played the trumpets regularly before the Ark of God's covenant.
7 That day David gave to Asaph and his fellow Levites this song of thanksgiving to the LORD: 8 Give thanks to the LORD and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. 9 Sing to him; yes, sing his praises. Tell everyone about his miracles. 10 Exult in his holy name; O worshipers of the LORD, rejoice! 11 Search for the LORD and for his strength, and keep on searching. 12 Think of the wonderful works he has done, the miracles, and the judgments he handed down, 13 O children of Israel, God's servant, O descendants of Jacob, God's chosen one. 14 He is the LORD our God. His rule is seen throughout the land. 15 He always stands by his covenant F110 – the commitment he made to a thousand generations. 16 This is the covenant he made with Abraham and the oath he swore to Isaac. 17 He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to the people of Israel as a never-ending treaty: 18 "I will give you the land of Canaan as your special possession." 19 He said this when they were few in number, a tiny group of strangers in Canaan. 20 They wandered back and forth between nations, from one kingdom to another. 21 Yet he did not let anyone oppress them. He warned kings on their behalf: 22 "Do not touch these people I have chosen, and do not hurt my prophets." 23 Let the whole earth sing to the LORD! Each day proclaim the good news that he saves. 24 Publish his glorious deeds among the nations. Tell everyone about the amazing things he does. 25 Great is the LORD! He is most worthy of praise! He is to be revered above all gods. 26 The gods of other nations are merely idols, but the LORD made the heavens! 27 Honor and majesty surround him; strength and beauty are in his dwelling. 28 O nations of the world, recognize the LORD, recognize that the LORD is glorious and strong. 29 Give to the LORD the glory he deserves! Bring your offering and come to worship him. Worship the LORD in all his holy splendor. 30 Let all the earth tremble before him. The world is firmly established and cannot be shaken. 31 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice! Tell all the nations that the LORD is king. 32 Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise! Let the fields and their crops burst forth with joy! 33 Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise before the LORD! For he is coming to judge the earth. 34 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. 35 Cry out, "Save us, O God of our salvation! Gather and rescue us from among the nations, so we can thank your holy name and rejoice and praise you." 36 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! And all the people shouted "Amen!" and praised the LORD.
37 David arranged for Asaph and his fellow Levites to minister regularly before the Ark of the LORD's covenant, doing whatever needed to be done each day. 38 This group included Obed-edom (son of Jeduthun), Hosah, and sixty-eight other Levites as gatekeepers. 39 Meanwhile, David stationed Zadok the priest and his fellow priests at the Tabernacle of the LORD on the hill of Gibeon, where they continued to minister before the LORD. 40 They sacrificed the regular burnt offerings to the LORD each morning and evening on the altar set aside for that purpose, obeying everything written in the law of the LORD, which he had given to Israel. 41 David also appointed Heman, Jeduthun, and the others chosen by name to give thanks to the LORD, "for his faithful love endures forever." 42 They used their trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments to accompany the songs of praise to God. And the sons of Jeduthun were appointed as gatekeepers. 43 Then all the people returned to their homes, and David returned home to bless his family.
FOOTNOTES:F109: Or a portion of meat. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain. F110: As in some Greek manuscripts (see also Ps 105:8); Hebrew reads Remember his covenant forever.
The New Living Translation

~ Lena’s Journalin’~
When he had finished David blessed the people…How many times do we bless the Lord first before we ask Him to bless people? Ya know, when we have prayer meetings, aren’t they centered on our own requests for other people, or our own needs? We may need to rethink our approach to God, or our prayers are really immature and aren’t going much of anywhere.
There is a Divine order and a Divine approach. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. To barge into His presence and tell Him what He can do for us or our friends, without hardly saying hello is pretty much rude. In an emergency, when one has already established a good loving, trusting and obedient relationship, one would act that way on occasion, but not regularly.
Enter His gates with a thankful heart, His courts with Praise, be thankful unto Him and bless His holy name. Nowhere in there does it say, ”and ask what you want or need”. In fact Jesus said, while you stand praying God already knows what you have need of, before you ever ask. Seek His kingdom first. Say something like. “Lord, what do You need for me to do with and for You today?”
We received the Lord in our time of need, realizing our great need for Him and His ability to meet all of our needs. That is how a relationship with God usually starts, but that is not how it is to progress.
We are growing up in Him and we are finding we were placed here on earth by God to serve a purpose. To serve Him, rather than expecting Him to serve us. He served us by sending His Son, now we respond to it by the giving of our own lives in service unto Him. That’s growth. If we’re still seeking to have our needs met all of the time we come to Him in prayer and we have not thought to ask Him what He wants or needs, then we have not yet begun to serve Him. It is time we do. He’s been waiting for our growth time, for He has a few things He needs to do, using us!
God gave us His most precious gift, because we are His precious treasure. He gave us that gift of life to lead us into Himself, into His heart, so we’d know why we are here and fulfill our purpose in him. He gave, we receive, we respond!
It takes an army of people united together to accomplish God’s will in the earth. We must find ourselves a part of the Body of Christ, functioning in unity, after the same purposes. This is a response we give God Our Father. Rebellion has no place here. None at all.
We, as humans, can really only hold onto so much, whether duty, or activity, or thought. Our capacity is only so big. So, if we are thinking on certain problems, we may be using our capacity for the meditation on the problems, that’s called worry. BUT if we begin to bless the Lord, and bless Him again and again, we are moving the meditation of the problems out and inviting the praise in, We find we are now full of praise for there is no room for the meditation on the problems when we have the answer filled full in us in praise.
It’s just like filling a jar w/ water = which may be the capacity to think on the problems. Now fill the same jar that is full of water with sand which =’s praise, just pour the sand in till it is full of sand (praise). One thing had to move out to make room for the next thing.
We obediently do what we did not feel like doing, but then we felt it happening to us, the problems leave and we’re full of God! Oh magnify the Lord! In other words, choose to dwell on God, not other things, make room for His thoughts and to serve Him more than you spend time on the problems. Make a choice on who gets to stay in your “house”. Does complaint or praise, worry or peace? Make a covenant exchange.
What do you speak about with friends, co workers, family? Negatives or positives? That is also an area where we can choose blessings or cursings. We can curse without using fowl language. Do the people around us hear us praise with our everyday words? Do we build those around us up, or tear them down? Building them up is praise unto God. What are we talking about? The goodness of God or the tragedy of sin and its effects on earth? What is being exalted by us daily in our everyday conversations?
Have you ever asked God for something to happen that would bring Him more glory?
Do you bless or curse your family members when you speak of them? We do this by our own life and by our words. When people look at you and say, she’s so and so’s wife, or so and so’s daughter, what do they think of the person you are related to or represent? Does your life bring honor to those you are related to? I did not say, do they deserve to be blessed, I said do you bless them, anyway?
Think a new thought of blessing today.
Bless the Lord Oh My soul.

Daily Thought to Ponder -
“Oh Give Thanks to the Lord for He is Good!”