Who Are We That We Can Give Anything to God? - 1 Chronicles 29:14

Background
David has just named Solomon as the next king and has given all of his riches for the construction of the temple. He calls for all of Israel to give generously and they respond overwhelmingly, with tens of thousands of talents of gold, silver, bronze, and iron, precious stones, and wood.

He prays a prayer of thanks, which I’ll read in a minute, and this says this toward the end.

1 Chronicles 29:14
But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us!

Who are we that we can give anything to God? Does God need anything? And why would he accept it from us? Think about that. The Creator of everything, who spoke everything that exists into existence, needs nothing from us, but invites us to participate in His work. What a privilege!

When I read the verses around 29:14, I concluded that I could not come up with a prayer over the offering that was any better than what David had composed. Hence, I will read that. But there are a few points that I’d like you to listen for as I read it:
God is the same God of the ancestors of Israel - He’s eternal
All glory is His
Everything is His
We are His kingdom
Wealth comes from Him alone - we might think “I worked hard for that!”, and that might be true, but it was God who enabled it. Things could have gone very differently.
Our lives are temporary
David ends by praying that God’s people, and particularly David’s son, WANT to obey God. I think we know that it doesn’t happen unless we teach our children, and show our children what that looks like. We know our children rarely listen to what we say, but always are watching what we do and our attitude toward it.

1 Chronicles 29:10-18

10 Then David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly:

“O Lord, the God of our ancestor Israel,[i] may you be praised forever and ever! 11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things. 12 Wealth and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in your hand, and at your discretion people are made great and given strength.

13 “O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name! 14 But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us! 15 We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace.

16 “O Lord our God, even this material we have gathered to build a Temple to honor your holy name comes from you! It all belongs to you! 17 I know, my God, that you examine our hearts and rejoice when you find integrity there. You know I have done all this with good motives, and I have watched your people offer their gifts willingly and joyously.

18 “O Lord, the God of our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, make your people always want to obey you. See to it that their love for you never changes. 19 Give my son Solomon the wholehearted desire to obey all your commands, laws, and decrees, and to do everything necessary to build this Temple, for which I have made these preparations.”

I borrow David’s prayer and use it in Jesus’s name, amen.