Hours of Elation
W. Clarkson 1 Chronicles 16:1-3 So they brought the ark of God, and set it in the middle of the tent that David had pitched for it… The path of human life lies, for the most part, along the level of simple and ordinary experiences, amid scenes and circumstances that annoy or depress but do not greatly grieve, or that please or gladden but do not excite to tumultuous delights. Sometimes, however, that path leads down into deep valleys of profoundest sorrow; sometimes it leads up to the high hills of exhilarating joy. Whether in the depth or upon the summit, we are in peculiar peril. We breathe an unusual air and are in danger of losing control of our full spiritual faculties. Men are sometimes overwhelmed by great sorrow or by supreme delight, and either lose their mental balance altogether or commit actions which they never cease to regret. It is a great thing to have a vent for our intenser feelings, a right channel through which they may safely flow, or rather a sphere in which they may spend their strength, to our own positive advantage and to the profit of others. Our text suggests such a sphere for our energies in the hours of elation. We are reminded - I. THAT WE MAY GO TO GOD IN SELF-PRESENTATION. In the midst of their rejoicing "they offered burnt sacrifices before God" (ver. 1). The burnt offering was the type of self-dedication unto God. As the offerer brought his victim to be wholly presented to Jehovah, so we are invited to offer our whole selves unto the living God. Our intensest joys attend our greatest mercies, and these may well lead us to renew our vows unto our Redeemer, freely and gladly presenting ourselves, once more, to him whose we are. II. THAT WE MAY GO TO GOD IN THANKFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT. "They offered peace offerings" also: these are suggestive of the act of praise by which we render thanks to God for all his goodness to us. There can be no time so suitable for this as the hour of elation, when unusual Blessings have been conferred by him. We are bound to recognize him as the Source and Spring of all our joy. III. THAT WE MAY GO TO GOD IN UNSELFISH INVOCATION. "When David had made an end... he blessed the people in the Name of the Lord" (ver. 2), i.e. he invoked the Divine blessing upon them. He doubtless used such words as these: "The Lord bless you, and keep you: the Lord make his face shine upon you," etc. (Numbers 6:24-26). We have no power to impart blessedness by any direct volition of our own, but we can express our earnest desire that men may be blessed; and we can do one thing more and better than that - we can solemnly and earnestly invoke the blessing of God to rest on those whom we love and with whom we desire to share our own prosperity and joy. IV. WE CAN GO OUT TO OUR NEIGHBOURS IN GENEROUS KINDNESS. David's good feeling took the form of hospitality (ver. 3). He gave to every one then present, bread, flesh, and wine, wherewith to find nourishment and pleasure. When God, in his providence, sends us prosperity, we should distribute freely to our poorer fellows. We may distribute, as David did, of those things which furnish the table. We may let our generosity take other, possibly better, forms than this; we may spend our strength in securing education for the ignorant, position for the unemployed, privilege for the spiritually destitute, opportunity for the aspiring. If thus, in dedication, in thanks-giving, in invocation, in generosity, we escape from ourselves and go forth unto God and man, we shall pass scathless through the perilous hour of elation, and be not only unharmed by it but blessed in it. - C. Parallel Verses KJV: So they brought the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it: and they offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings before God. WEB: They brought in the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it: and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God.