1 Chronicles 29:14. “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 to you.”
This is part of David’s prayer after the collection for the building of the temple, and the implication of his words are incredible to consider.
First, notice that David praises God that the people were “able thus to offer willingly.” In other words, the ability of the people to *want* to give toward the temple was itself a gift from God. Since our will is the means by which we make our decisions, we cannot reach down and change our own will. Our deepest will is something we cannot touch, just as a hand cannot take hold of itself. However, GOD is able to alter the will, HE is able to reach down and grant a NEW will. And we get a glimpse of that here in David’s prayer. The ability to desire to give to God is the gift of God.
But then, see that David goes on to say that ALL the people have given to YHWH was His to begin with. Ultimately, it is impossible to give anything to God since it is all His already. This is true not only of tangible things, but also of intangible—our will, our soul, our passions. Everything is from Him, through Him, and to Him (Rom.11:36), including our desire to give and what we give.
Ultimately, what this means then, is that whenever anyone gives anything (whether to God or to others) it is an expression of the giving of God. No one can give anything without giving what is God’s, and no one can desire to give graciously apart from the gracious work of God (yes, even in the lives of unbelievers). So, ALL giving is an expression of GOD’S giving…
And since the giving of God is rooted in the eternal self-giving of the Trinity and ultimately expressed within time and space in the self-giving of God on the cross, ALL giving is a participation in (intentionally or unintentionally) the Triune life of God as manifest toward creation on Calvary….May those who do not yet know Him—and so, are at the risk of being cast out from Him—come alive to the fact that they breathe the atmosphere of His personal self-giving every day.