Worthy of An ‘Honourable Discharge’
“The gatekeepers had been assigned to their positions of trust by David and Samuel the seer. They and their descendants were in charge of guarding the gates of the house of the Lord… A Levite named Mattithiah… was entrusted with the responsibility of baking the offering bread.” 1 Chronicles 9:22 – 23, & 31, NIV
The word ‘entrusted’ is defined by the ‘Free Dictionary’ as meaning ‘to invest or charge with a duty or responsibility’. In today’s scripture we see that the Levites were given specific responsibilities in the house of the Lord and they were expected to carry out these responsibilities in a trustworthy manner. It was actually a special honour to be set aside for such service and the Psalmist understood this when he exclaimed, in Psalm 84, that he would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. The Message Bible, which is not a literal translation, puts it this way – ‘I’d rather scrub floors in the house of my God than be honoured as a guest in the palace of sin.’ He wasn’t saying that if he had to choose between the two extremes, he would choose the former. He was actually saying that to be a doorkeeper was by far the best option because to be in the courts of God was far better than being anywhere else ( Psalm 84:10)!
No job is insignificant when it’s done in God’s name. In fact all jobs are important, whether you’re a doorkeeper in God’s house, a bread baker, a Sunday School teacher, or the one who arranges the flowers. All are needed and must function in unison if God’s house is to be orderly. What if the gate keepers had said, ‘I’m tired of guarding this gate’ or Matthithiah had said ‘I’m not making any more bread?’ The house of God would have been unguarded, and there would have been no bread to offer. Both roles were vitally important and needed to be faithfully carried out. In 1 Corinthians 15:58 we read, ‘Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.’ I suspect that someone needs to hear that exhortation today, and perhaps that someone is you! There has been many times when I’ve had to take hold of this scripture myself.
One day our time on this earth will be ended and we’ll all be asked to give an account to God for the way we lived our lives. I long to hear God say to me ‘Well done good and faithful servant’ (Matthew 25:21). I want to be handed an ‘honourable discharge’ from God, my commanding officer. How about you? Honourable discharges are only awarded to those who have faithfully completed the service to which they were assigned.
Adopted from Seeds of the Kingdom a daily devotional from Ellel Ministries International