1 Chronicles 28:9: David's Formula for Godliness

“And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.” 1 Chronicles 28:9

This morning as I finished up my reading of 1 Chronicles, the above verse stood out to me. We find this verse amidst David's final charge to Solomon his son, who was about to take his place as king. Not wanting to leave Solomon unprepared for the task, David gives Solomon some practical advice on how to live out his kingship. Yet rather than giving him kingly advice, leadership advice, or any other type of advice, he starts by giving him spiritual advice. David knows that his son could be the best king, the best leader, and even the best man in Israel, and yet still fail the Israelites as king if he didn't first follow after the Lord. Thus, David charges his son, before all other things, to know and serve the Lord.

I find the two imperative verbs in David's charge to his son most interesting this morning. David does not tell his son to "follow," "obey," or even "love" the LORD. Although those things are certainly included in the words he chooses, David only tells Solomon to "know" and "serve" the Lord. Let us look at each of these real quick, and miss not their connection. First, David encouraged Solomon to know the Lord. This is truly the first step of all godliness. For how can we become like a God who we do not know? Yet so often, we attempt to skip to the service of God before we obtain knowledge of God, which is merely impossible. We can only serve God as much as we know him. Thus pursuing godliness is two-fold, both learning who God is and then sacrificing to the God which we know (see Rom. 12:1-2). Yet, so often we do not know the depths of the character of God. Arthur Pink, in his book The Attributes of God, says, "To countless thousands, even among those professing Christians, the God of the Scriptures is quite unknown." Surely this quote is true. I am even amazed at the lack of knowledge some have about God, even among professing Christians. If you call yourself a Christian, it is your duty to find out the character of God through his Word. Dear Christian, do you know of God's love, his grace, and his mercy? Good. But what about his wrath? What about his judgments? What about his decrees, his supremacy, his power, his holiness, his immutability, his sovereignty, and his foreknowledge? Surely there is much to still be plunged into the depths of the character of God. Yet apart from knowledge of these things, we cannot fully serve our God.

Yet David does not stop here. With as much as we know of our God, whether small or much, we must serve him. Although it is true that those who know God more can serve him more, there is another factor in the equation of godliness. Without serving God with a whole heart and a willing mind, we will also fail at pursuing godliness. What David is saying here is that we ought not to serve God half-heartedly or begrudgingly. You'll know if this is you by asking yourself the following questions: (1) Do you seek to obey all of the commands of God, or do you just obey the ones which seem "easy" to you? and (2) Do you groan and complain at God's commands, or do you obey them joyfully? If either of those questions is answered wrongly, you are either serving the Lord half-heartedly, begrudgingly, or both. Yet let us realize that half-hearted and begrudging service of God is no true service of God at all, but mere lip service. And let us realize that mere lip service led the Pharisees down the road to hell.

So, are you on the path to godliness or the path to destruction? There is no middle ground. Either you are walking each day on a path towards God or away from him. Let us realize, dear Christian, that to forsake God's Word is to forsake God himself. For what bride refuses to read that which her husband has written to her? Furthermore, to forsake prayer is to forsake him as well. What bride does not speak intimately with her husband? Dear reader, let us not forsake the full knowledge and service of our God. If we do forsake them, he has promised to forsake us. Yet if we draw near to him, he will draw near to us through Christ his Son. Amen.