READ: 1 Chronicles 15-16
Verses
chosen for meditation: 1 Chronicles 16:8-9
8 Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his
name;
make known his deeds among the peoples!
9 Sing to him, sing praises to him;
tell of all his wondrous works!
REFLECT
With
the ark set in its proper place in Israel, it was a time of celebration and
worship, and David took care of every aspect. He neglected nothing when it came
to the service of God. He had people giving burnt offerings regularly, morning
and evening. He appointed others to attend to the service of song. Then he had another
group, focused on recording what God had done, and still doing then. The
important work of this group was to “bring to remembrance” God’s works.
In
David’s song, he emphasised speaking of God’s good deeds, to tell of all his
wondrous works. We don’t do that enough and there’s many reasons. One of them
being we don’t remember. His deeds don’t come to the forefront of our minds habitually.
How to tell of God’s works when we don’t remember? Remembering is often a
neglected part of the Christian life. Several ways that can help us remember
Him regularly:
- Keeping
an actual record of what God has done in your life (i.e., journaling).
- Praise
God fully the moment you receive His goodness.
- Set
aside time each day to identify His blessings, to practise seeing His goodness
in everything around you.
- Speak
of His goodness, His mercy and grace, His deeds (v8-9).
This
celebration was not a one-time thing. David set the tone here for how Israel
should worship God. This was different from assigning people to do an event
high with no follow up. Here, the way David assigns the duties was meant for
people continue this worship, not only before the ark for the days ahead, but as
part of their lives. We are meant to do the same, continuing the worship after
we walk out the halls, and hopefully, during the weekdays.
RELATE
Continuing the worship beyond the service halls is
so important, in our speech and deeds. Telling of God’s wondrous works for
example, is a form of worship not only during songs of praise or prayer in
worship services, but something to be done after we walk out of the service
halls. Unfortunately, there are times we can find ourselves doing the opposite.
The contrast would be stark too. Within the walls of the worship service hall,
we say plenty of edifying things. The moment we step out, we may go about
speaking ill of the things we observe.
The habit of good Godly talk may be uncommon and
often not in our normal conversations. Some may never do it unless the occasion
calls for it (like in worship services) or in the presence of certain groups. Some
even do it like a skill, using specific “Christian lingo” only when amongst the
company of those who speak that lingo. It may be funny if everyone in that
group speaking that lingo, never speaks like that beyond that group. Here,
David is urging all followers of God to make good Godly talk as part of their
being, immersing it as a speaking habit in their lives, not something to do only
for show.
One
good way of making good Godly conversations is to talk more about God’s
wondrous works. When we do that more, we talk less about our own works. There’s
less emphasis on “I did this. I did that” which leads to self-centredness and
bragging. What we often speak about can influence our perspectives, and making
it about ourselves more than about God leads to the perception that many of the
things we have is what we worked for, not blessings and grace coming from God.
When
we talk more about God’s wondrous works, we also talk less about other people’s
works. We will learn to see God’s goodness even in the imperfections of humans
and find delight in it, instead of critical negativity. At times, we are quick
to criticise about people, methods, details of worship and church structures,
but hardly see God’s wonderful works in the very things we criticise or nitpick.
Unfortunately, I heard much of such talk over the years (and I contributed to
some of it), with some of them targeted at some of God’s most faithful
servants. I wonder how God sees it. As a God who often uses the lowly to achieve
His will, showing His strength through human weaknesses, He surely is working in
the faithful servants we criticise. In God’s eyes, are we criticising how He
works in them then?
This
doesn’t mean that we do not rebuke or point out improvements. Much of the
church’s improvements come from such rebuke and honest feedback from people who
genuinely love the church. In fact, one problem I had with some workplace cultures (and the church too) is this tendency to be “too nice” and not speak
honestly about issues. However, the kind of criticism and talk about other
people’s works that I’m referring to are the kind that is not edifying, often
said in a setting where it’s not helping.
How
do we tell the difference between good feedback and non-helpful negative talk? Motivation
is one of them. Do we comment because we desire improvement, or is it habitual complaining,
usually related to our preferences rather than being biblical? The telling sign
of those who genuinely wants to improve the church is trying to be part of the
improvement themselves, rather than merely offering a barrage of words. Another
difference is the targeted audience of your comments. One can reserve their comments only
for personnel who could do something positively with the feedback. This contrasts
with those who spread their negative talk with anyone they are familiar with,
perhaps with those at the lunch table, though they are unrelated to the target
of comments. Such talk is hardly edifying.
If
it’s not constructive feedback about other’s works, then let's shift to talking about
God’s wondrous works, reflected in the work of others. Allow others to see that
God’s goodness and wonderful deeds can be achieved even when we are not
perfect, even in our inadequacies. If not, with talk that does not edify, people
would be discouraged to serve, with prying eyes filled with all sorts of standards
tied to preferences.
REST
May we spend some time today, to first remember God’s
wondrous works. See what habits we can start doing to remember better. Pray
that in doing so, it would lead us to talk about His works more. Talking about
God’s wondrous works is to our benefit, as we draw ourselves and others to look
upon God more, and less on other distractions.
Chris Chong
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