A Lesser known person

1 Chronicles 16:1-6

They brought the ark of God and set it inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and they presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before God. After David had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD. Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each Israelite man and woman. 

He appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, to make petition, to give thanks, and to praise the LORD, the God of Israel: Asaph was the chief, Zechariah second, then Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-Edom and Jeiel. They were to play the lyres and harps, Asaph was to sound the cymbals, and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests were to blow the trumpets regularly before the ark of the covenant of God. 

·         Asaph spent his life ministering in the tent that King David had built as God’s “house.”  If anybody lived a life of worship it was him.

A SINGLE-HEARTED DEDICATION TO GOD

1. It was His Full-Time Job

“…Asaph was the chief…” - 1 Chronicles 16:5

• When King David brought the Ark of God to the Tabernacle, he appointed people to minister to God in prayer and worship.  Who did he select as their leader?  Asaph.  He was appointed “to make petition, to give thanks, and to praise the Lord.”  It was his full-time job.  He woke up in the morning, went to the Tabernacle, ministered to God, took a lunch break, ministered more to God, went home, went to sleep, and repeated the process the next day.
• You may not have ever had a full-time paid career, but you all are probably full-time students.  What does your schedule look like most days?  In the same way that your daily life is dictated by school in a lot of ways, Asaph’s daily life was dictated by spending time with God in prayer and worship.
• Even Paul told us, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful” in Colossians 4:2.  Devoting ourselves to prayer means that it’s our full-time job.

2. It was His Personal Passion

“… appoint their brothers as singers to sing joyful songs, accompanied by musical instruments:  lyres, harps, and cymbals.” - 1 Chronicles 15:16

• Here in 1 Chronicles 15, David decides to bring the Ark up for good this time.  He even sets up a parade of music and singing to go with the
  Ark.  Put yourself in David’s shoes – What kinds of people would you want playing music in the parade?  People who really loved God and were passionate for Him?

• King David asks the Levite leaders to pick some people to be in the parade, and Asaph was one, and he was in charge of banging the cymbals (1 Chronicles 15:19).  This is before the Ark is in the Tabernacle, before King David gave Asaph the full-time job of ministering to God.  They would pick the best of the best to sing and worship before God this day, so even before it was his job to worship, it was already his passion.

• Paul shows a similar response to God’s call in Philippians 3:8 – “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.”  Nothing mattered to Paul besides knowing Jesus – the pursuit of God was his one passion.

Have a great passionate day.

John

This entry was posted on 05/08/2009 at 09:01 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.