¹⁰ Then David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly:

“O Lord, the God of our ancestor Israel, may you be praised forever and ever! ¹¹ Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things. ¹² Wealth and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in your hand, and at your discretion people are made great and given strength.

¹³ “O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name! ¹⁴ But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us! 

1 Chronicles 29:10-14

Dear God, I attended a Summer Adoration and Benediction of the Holy Eucharist event at the local Catholic church last night where my wife, who is Catholic, and I (who am not Catholic) attend. I have to say, it was one of the most worshipful group experiences I’ve had in a while. Just lovely. It was great to sing to you with such depth and yet softness. Those who were leading the singing had the perfect pitch to their voices. And the acoustics in that old cathedral combined with the soft, simple piano (and by simple, I mean, in the best way, what seemed to be an intentional shunning of elaborate keyboarding and just simply embracing the melody and the chords in a soft way) just invited me in to rest in your lap and sing to you. Here is the program for the evening:

With that said, this passage from 1 Chronicles was the first passage read. I thought it a very fitting beginning to the service. Great work by David here. Good, clean worship–without wishing death on his enemies. This one line didn’t stand out as much to me last night as it does tonight: Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. For David, this was him claiming your authority over him and over Israel. For me, I want to claim your authority over my life and everything over which I might have influence. Not that I have the power over anything like David did over Israel, but to whatever extent I have influence, I yield it to you.

Father, you know my aches. You know my joys. They are all yours. My life is all yours. Help me to remember that this evening as I lie down to sleep. Help me to remember that in the morning as I go to work and share your love with those around me. O Lord, whatever I have is yours.

I pray all of this through the grace of Jesus’s blood,

Amen