Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1308
“To record, and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel.” 1 Chronicles 16:4.
DAVID took care of every part of Divine worship. He saw to it that nothing was neglected in the service of the God in whom he delighted. Let this stand as an example to us to be careful about everything which concerns the honor of God. Do not allow any of the duties of your holy faith to be forgotten, but seek to exhibit harmonious and entire obedience to the Divine will. Do not merely attend to what are called religious duties, but with equal religiousness regard your social duties and present to the Lord, as far as you can, a complete service. Such David desired to do.
You observe that he had those about him who offered burnt offerings unto the Lord continually, morning and evening, as God had commanded—these things were not to be left undone. And then he set apart certain others to attend to the service of song. Theirs it was to sound the trumpets and to call the people together—theirs to touch the harmonious strings of harps, or to sound with cymbals of brass, or to lift their voices on high in the sweet praises of Jehovah, for God is to be served with sacrifice and praised with song. Our God accepts us when we labor for Him and when we praise Him—let both be done heartily. It were a pity if we worked so hard that we could not sing! It were equally unhappy if we sang so much that we idled away our time! There must be a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, music and fruit, service and song.
There was also a third company set apart for a somewhat extraordinary work, namely as our text tells us, to record. They were to take notes of what God had done and was doing. They were to be the chronicles of the nation and, out of their chronicles, they were to compose the Psalms and songs. Perhaps that is the meaning of the word, “record,” here, but the original bears another meaning—“to bring to remembrance.” If they were not to act as historians to record, they were as minstrels to proclaim what had been written in old times and bring it to remembrance. I rather prefer the idea that their duty was to do both—to record the loving kindness of the Lord and to bring to the remembrance of the people what the Lord’s right hand had done in former times.
Now, if you think a minute, this third class of people, who are placed between the Levites before the Ark and the singers who thanked and praised the Lord, would be useful both to those who went before and to those who followed. Those who had to serve before the Ark of the Lord are mentioned first. Now, what could so cheer them in their service as to read of the goodness of the Lord? What could so inspire them to attend reverently to the service of the Lord’s house as to remember the former loving kindnesses of the Lord? What arguments could they have for fidelity that would be more powerful than the record of His mercy which endures forever?
Those who were to conduct the praising and the thanksgiving are mentioned after these recorders. But what is the raw material of which praise is made but the record of what God is and of what He has done for His people? I think whenever they wanted to sing, they would turn to these remembrancers and recorders and say to them, “Tell us something of what God has done, for the simple record of Jehovah’s acts is the noblest Psalmody.” Do you notice that whenever we praise God best, we simply declare what He is, for the bare fact about God is the highest praise—you have only to mention what He does in order to produce the most sublime poetry—the grateful mention of His glorious acts is, in itself, adoration! You cannot adore the Lord better than by devoutly rehearsing His mighty acts—so good is His name, so blessed are His deeds. “Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can show forth all His praise?”
Now, from the fact that David set apart certain Levites to record, I gather three or four thoughts of which I am going to speak tonight. The first is—it is implied that there is a fault in man’s memory. It is equally clear, in the second place, that we ought to endeavor to assist memory. Thirdly, it is certain, too, from the appointment of recorders, that there is a good deal worth remembering. And, fourthly, from the connection of these recorders with the singers, we see that, to
right-minded persons memory will always produce praise. When we have recorded the great mercies of the Lord, then we shall be sure to thank and praise Him.
I. First of all, we may gather, I think, without any straining of the text, that if recorders were appointed, THERE IS SOME FAULT IN OUR MEMORY TOWARDS THE LORD. What faults there are in our memory touching the work and Word of God! Perhaps some of you have very powerful memories and may be able to treasure up whole volumes as some have done. It might be said of you as it was of Dr. Lawson, that if the whole Bible had been destroyed, he could have reproduced it from memory. This is a great gift and a worthy use for it, but I fear that few of us have it. It is not likely that men could say of us, as of the famous Grecian, that out of 10,000 soldiers he knew every one of his men by name.