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Morning Manna | 1 Chronicles 26:26 | The Treasures of Dedicated Things

Writer's picture: Bro. Caleb TaftBro. Caleb Taft

1 Chronicles 26:26

26 Which Shelomith and his brethren were over all the treasures of the dedicated things, which David the king, and the chief fathers, the captains over thousands and hundreds, and the captains of the host, had dedicated.




David is nearing the end of his life and before he leaves this earth he wants to be sure that the vision he has in his heart will be fulfilled. He doesn't ride out the rest of his days in relaxation but spends them gathering material for the temple, designing it, and setting in order the ranks of servants, priests, builders, and all other things necessary for the completion and perfection of the temple's building and service. Our verse today comes from the appointment of men who would watch over the treasures of the dedicated things.



These treasures were not the accumulation of one lifetime but of many generations, "And all that Samuel the seer, and Saul the son of Kish, and Abner the son of Ner, and Joab the son of Zeruiah, had dedicated" [vs.28]. David himself had dedicated more than anyone had in times past but his dedication was not enough by itself. For a project of this magnitude, it was going to take the wealth of generations, not a generation, the wealth of families, not a family. The treasure was sufficient because it had been generations in the collecting. I thought of the many mighty ministries and churches that have a huge impact on this world for the kingdom of God. We are not involved in building a physical kingdom in this present day but we labor all the same for God's kingdom here on earth. It is not physical riches that we need to amass but spiritual. It is those churches and ministries that have been able to hand off their treasures to the next generation that can do greater work for the Lord. In America we have the spiritual riches of our forefathers, when we were born we had behind us the spiritual heritage of centuries. Here in Africa, we find a different type of work, the Christian heritage here in Africa is less than a century old and still in its infant stages. We have amassed the dedication of men like Livingstone, Stanley, and many others and without a doubt, we are standing on these men's shoulders and we find greater response to the gospel than they ever imagined they would. Yet there is still more that must be dedicated, our lives, our substance, our wealth, must be dedicated to the Lord as long as he sees fit, that his Kingdom may advance on this continent and to this people. 



If we have men dedicating their life to the work of God and raising a heritage for the generation coming behind them then we must also have those who will guard these riches. What good are truths and victories if the spoils of these victories are squandered by fools or stolen by thieves? We must have these brothers like Shelomith, the root word of his name means safety. If we don't have mean who will keep these treasures of the faith safe then in less than one generation they will be raided and the Work of God will suffer damage. At this moment we don't lack warm bodies here on this continent but we lack brothers who will guard the truth of God's word and keep the heritage that was passed on to us. Many cults have come and raided the warehouses of truth, other charlatans have come as a way to steal from the coffers what should be used for the Kingdom. We must have guardians of the truth that was once delivered to the Apostles.



Will you pray for us? Paul in his missionary journey wrote to the Thessalonians with this request, "Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:" Many who will read this letter this morning are from our spiritual heritage in America. You are serving and worshipping on the spiritual wealth amassed by generations of faithful men who have dedicated their lives. Pray for us that as the word has had a free course with you, so it will be with us. Pray for us, that as men have dedicated their lives to the Kingdom there so will many dedicate their life to the Kingdom here. We may never see the spiritual wealth that we saw in days gone by, but we can begin guarding what remains and dedicating more so that in the days to come others may stand on our shoulders and guard the dedication of our lives to the gospel in Africa. 

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