March 16, 2008<br>
Background Scripture: 1 Chronicles 28:1-28<br>
Devotional Reading: Psalms 132<br>
One sign of changing times is the preoccupation of entrepreneurs with the short-run view. Business is often conducted as if there were no tomorrow.<br>
“Take the money and run” seems to be the marketplace battle. There is little company loyalty to employees, and vice versa. The exclusivity of short-term profits engenders greed and corruption.
Recently, I attended the luncheon meeting of the Harvard Business School Alumni of Dallas, and our speaker, a celebrated CEO of a “model” retail corporation, decried the current practice of hiring the cheapest employees to be found and putting them to work without training, adequate compensation and without “a clue to what they are supposed to be selling.”<br>
Is this a religious concern? Yes, I think it is, because a short-run vision is concerned primarily with a selfish me-and-mine attitude of “don’t think about tomorrow.” When short-term profit is our only goal, it becomes an idol, a substitute for God.<br>
So, what does this have to do with 1 Chronicles 28?<br>
A long-run vision<br>

The farewell address of King David may seem an ancient event, but it is instructive for us. King David begins by declaring what his intention had been as King.<br>
“I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and for the footstool of our God; and I made preparations for a building. But God said to me, ‘You may not build a house for my name, for you are a warrior and have shed blood.” (28:2, 3).<br>
David had to admit that he had failed to carry out his plans and he was going to have to entrust them to his successor. He was now aware that he had begun a task so demanding that it could not be completed in the span of his mortal life.<br>
David had accomplished simply amazing things for Israel, but he had forgotten (1) it was with God that these accomplishments became possible, and (2) some things are too demanding to be achieved in one short lifetime. But the God who had worked with David would be there to work with his successor.<br>
A couple of years ago, I read a book about the future of Christianity. According to the author, the future of the faith seems promising in Africa, South America and Asia, but the outlook for the United States, Canada and Europe is bleak. It deeply bothered me to think of the great task for Christians in the U.S. to turn around the decline of the churches. At my age, it is not likely that I would live to see that turnaround.<br>
But then it occurred to me that it is God, not us, who can bring His will to fruition, and when I and my generation are gone, He can raise up other men and women to be His instruments. We have to continue to do what we can with the assurance that God will take care of the future.<br>
God’s hands and ours<br>

David then lays out for Solomon and the people the game plan for the future: keep the commandments, know the God of your father, serve Him, seek Him, be strong and of good courage for the God who was with David, and his people will be with Solomon and his people. Know that He will not forsake you, but will be with you to the end of the task (28:9-20).<br>
That seems like good advice for us, too. When our work is done, that does not mean that God is done. The kingdom of God will not fail because we have not completed our task. We can pass on the torch knowing that the future is in God’s hands. We can be confident about the future, because we can be confident of our God.<br>
At the beginning of World War II, when an unprepared France and England were being pushed toward the English Channel, a French official decided that it was all over. Even if England fought on, it was like a chicken, the neck of which soon would be wrung.
Winston Churchill went to the airwaves to reassure the British people that they would continue on and mentioned the Frenchman‘s analogy. Churchill commented: “Some chicken! Some neck!”<br>
David was a lame duck singing a swan song, but it was a song his people would continue to sing when he was gone.<br>