WHAT LAVISHNESS!
Thursday, 11th August 2016
2 Chronicles 4:1-22 (NKJV)
Moreover he made a bronze altar: twenty cubits was its length, twenty cubits its width, and ten cubits its height.
2 Then he made the Sea of cast bronze, ten cubits from one brim to the other; it was completely round. Its height was five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference.
3 And under it was the likeness of oxen encircling it all around, ten to a cubit, all the way around the Sea. The oxen were cast in two rows, when it was cast.
4 It stood on twelve oxen: three looking toward the north, three looking toward the west, three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east; the Sea was set upon them, and all their back parts pointed inward.
5 It was a handbreadth thick; and its brim was shaped like the brim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It contained three thousand baths.
6 He also made ten lavers, and put five on the right side and five on the left, to wash in them; such things as they offered for the burnt offering they would wash in them, but the Sea was for the priests to wash in.
7 And he made ten lampstands of gold according to their design, and set them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left.
8 He also made ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right side and five on the left. And he made one hundred bowls of gold.
9 Furthermore he made the court of the priests, and the great court and doors for the court; and he overlaid these doors with bronze.
10 He set the Sea on the right side, toward the southeast. …
I can almost hear someone scream – what lavishness! Some apostles reacted the same way someday too “To what purpose is this waste …” (Matt. 26:8) Longman dictionary defines lavish as very free, generous or wasteful in giving or using. Depending on one’s psychology, lavish can be wasteful giving or generous giving. For a stingy and uncircumcised heart, giving to God is being wasteful; however, for a liberal godly giver, giving to God is reciprocating God’s love towards one. For King Solomon and the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet with costly perfume, their giving showed reciprocal love to God for what He had done for them. Solomon said “But who is able to build Him a house …. Who am I that I should build a house, save to burn sacrifices before Him”? (2 Chronicles 2:6 KJV).
Solomon gave the best to God, being very careful to give according to God’s specifications. How do you give to God? Is it on your own terms and with compelled heart or liberally? Solomon built the temple lavishly because of who God was to him – He from whom all mercies flow. Such a gift attracts God to the giver (1 King 9:1-3). Learn how to give your all to God. Such a gesture unlocks the supernatural to you.
Prayer: Lord teach me to give lavishly for Your work.