David’s Prayer
10 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.
14 “But who am I and who are my people that we should [h]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. 18 O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, our fathers, preserve this forever in the [i]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 [j]temple, for which I have made provision.”
20 Then David said to all the assembly, “Now bless the Lord your God.” And all the assembly blessed the Lord, the God of their fathers, and bowed low and did homage to the Lord and to the king.
Sacrifices
21 On the next day they [k]made sacrifices to the Lord and offered burnt offerings to the Lord, 1,000 bulls, 1,000 rams and 1,000 lambs, with their drink offerings and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel. 22 So they ate and drank that day before the Lord with great gladness.
I love verse 14, “who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this?” In other words, who are we that you have blessed us so much that our abundance runs over and we can freely give, with a willing heart.
Not everyone might feel like they have been blessed that their abundance runs over, but we ought all to give in that way. It may not be in physical or earthly possessions like we see in this passage, but we all have an area where God has blessed us. It might be as simple as a talent God has given us (and there is no one lacking in that regard, even if you haven’t found it yet). When God gives us a talent, it also “runs over”, and we ought to use it to help others and to glorify God.
So whatever and however God has blessed you, find a way to give back to Him. For whatever we do, we should do it as unto the Lord, because in truth, we are doing it for Him–whether we do it well, or do it poorly.