File Overwrite

2 Chronicles 6:4

Then he said: "Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his hands has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to my father David.”

One full month of VBS daily preps and pressures, plus a 4-day mission exposure trip immediately after, and our family caught the unsurprising sum: pneumonia for Kjaran, flu for me, dry cough for Rilian, and gastro-something for Tris. But don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t because of all the busyness we did. Rather, it was more because we did nothing to prevent it. Forced to stay in bed, unable to speak or move for long, all I did for two days now was to note my lessons learned and submit the report to God. It was humbling and you could imagine my long face. But as always with God, He’s never done until it’s praiseworthy. He sent me back my paper this morning with a perfect score. Not from my handwriting of course. The file was overwritten. He covered it with grace, signing it with His very Name.  

After long years of wandering and waiting, Israel finally saw their nation secured in Solomon’s temple. With God Himself marking it with His Name and favor, they considered it peak in their history. The promise land conquest may have been their victory, but this was the enjoyment of it. The fruit of David’s battles. The peace and prosperity longed for. The sum of it all. But on a personal note, Solomon saw the Temple as a promise kept to his family. With detailed answers to his father’s prayers. Every beam and frame and wall richly provided. Every furnishing according to specifications. And on that day of dedication, seeing the priests, the craftsmen, the officials, and all the people, all who contributed for the rise of the grand Temple, his heart remembered that day David prayed for him. And before his very eyes, God overwhelmed him with answers: the temple finished, every willing, skillful man helped out, and all the people obeyed his every command. Exactly the very words David uttered.

That prayer in 1 Chronicles 28:20-21 was God’s word to me that night when I was so tired and down from VBS preps. It was the promise of hope I carried with me every time I had to collect my guts and stand amidst my competent, efficient, hardworking team. Reading the verse above, how God fulfilled His promise to David, I readily referred back to what He promised Solomon… and ME. And every word, which was hope to me last month, is now an answered prayer.  And so, I’m making this choice that every time I’ll remember April 2012, I’ll not end with ‘…and we got sick after' or '..because I failed somewhere’. Rather, I’ll boast that this month was a job well done. A perfect score. Not for what I did of course. That was already overwritten. This file is tagged Promise Kept, Answered Prayer, and Praise Worthy.  File saved!