The Gift of Giving and the Generosity of God
“But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding. O LORD our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own.” (1 Chronicles 29:14-16)
The first line in this text, the question, is what caught my attention. Solomon asks a genuine question. “Who are we, to give these things willingly?” It’s a rhetorical question, in that this question is designed to make us think.
This question highlights the honor and privilege of those who are able to give. Why should we be granted this privilege, this gift, of giving to God?
It’s an honor because ‘all things come from you, and of your own have we given you.’ God doesn’t need us to give to his cause. He has enough. The God who created the universe through divine fiat can certainly provide for himself.
So imagine what an honor it is to us for God to allow us to participate in his own provisioning. He could easily short-circuit this all, removing us from the equation. But he gives to us, so that we can give back to him, so that we can have the honor and privilege of being useful in his kingdom.
In a sense we are like penniless children who want to give our father a birthday present. He knows that we have this desire to honor him. So he hides some money under our pillows. We find this money, go to the store, and purchase a present for him. And so, while some children can only say ‘Happy Birthday,’ we can go further, and give him a gift to show our love and appreciation. It’s an honor that not all have. Ultimately, we didn’t give him anything that wasn’t already his. But we get the joy and pleasure of giving him something, expressing our gratitude in a tangible way.
This is an honor that we all have, but in varying degrees. The more generous we are able to be in our giving, the more we have reason to humbly ask this question – “Who am I, that I should be able thus to offer willingly?”
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