Remember the last time you rushed through a project, only to wish you had taken a moment longer to plan it out? That's the crux of our conversation today: the profound value of "measure twice, cut once." Drawing parallels from my construction days and the biblical narrative in 1 Chronicles 15, we explore King David's journey with the Ark of the Covenant, a tale of initial failure turned to triumph through careful preparation. Our discussion ventures beyond the ancient text, applying the principle to the meticulous nature of spiritual practices and the rich rewards of patience. Embrace the slow pace with me; it's the secret to efficiency and excellence in everything from divine connection to daily life.
As the notes of Heman, Asaph, and Ethan's instruments once graced the processional air, let their dedication inspire our modern rhythm of life. This episode is not just a story; it's an invitation to savor each prayer, each scripture, each moment of fellowship, finding in them a slower but more substantial faith journey. And as we conclude with a prayer for patience and integrity, remember that our striving is seen and valued by a timeless God who cherishes our every effort toward a life lived with careful intention. Tomorrow, we continue this reflective journey as we move into the richness of 1 Chronicles chapter 16. Join me, and let’s carry forward the wisdom that sometimes the most productive thing we can do is take our time.
Remember the last time you rushed through a project, only to wish you had taken a moment longer to plan it out? That's the crux of our conversation today: the profound value of "measure twice, cut once." Drawing parallels from my construction days and the biblical narrative in 1 Chronicles 15, we explore King David's journey with the Ark of the Covenant, a tale of initial failure turned to triumph through careful preparation. Our discussion ventures beyond the ancient text, applying the principle to the meticulous nature of spiritual practices and the rich rewards of patience. Embrace the slow pace with me; it's the secret to efficiency and excellence in everything from divine connection to daily life.
As the notes of Heman, Asaph, and Ethan's instruments once graced the processional air, let their dedication inspire our modern rhythm of life. This episode is not just a story; it's an invitation to savor each prayer, each scripture, each moment of fellowship, finding in them a slower but more substantial faith journey. And as we conclude with a prayer for patience and integrity, remember that our striving is seen and valued by a timeless God who cherishes our every effort toward a life lived with careful intention. Tomorrow, we continue this reflective journey as we move into the richness of 1 Chronicles chapter 16. Join me, and let’s carry forward the wisdom that sometimes the most productive thing we can do is take our time.
Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. 1 Chronicles, chapter 15. Today's title it's not going to make that much sense unless you've ever been around a bunch of carpenters or construction workers, and that is measure twice cut once. Measure twice cut once. I'm going to talk to you about what that means in just a moment. But, as always, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like share, subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast, make sure that you are leaving us a five-star review on the podcast, leave us some comments on the YouTube channel. I love hearing from you. It's so much fun. And then, as always, we all gather together at the Bible Breakdown Discussion Group and we read those devotions every day, and they just add so much encouragement. One other thing is that if you go to my blog, brandoncannoncom, there is a free newsletter you can subscribe to, and every week on Saturdays, I will send you what was my favorite devotion of the week, as well as different resources, as I'm constantly studying and coming across stuff. I come across things all the time that I would love to share with people just to help enrich your relationship with God. I'm in the current process right now of studying to get my doctorate in apologetics and theology, and so as I'm researching for stuff like that, I'm studying all those things, I come across stuff all the time, and so if that kind of thing interests you, I'd love for you to go there and we can continue our conversation there as well. If you have your Bibles and want to open up with me to 1 Chronicles 15, you Well, if you have your Bibles and want to open up with me to 1 Chronicles, chapter 15, you remember a couple of chapters ago when poor Uzzah done died again? Well, it is time to move the ark, and what's happened is is David has finally figured out how to do this the right way, and what it reminds me of is an old carpenter's phrase measure twice cut. Once Now, when I was in my 20s, I was part of a construction crew for just a little while in this particular job and one of my favorite things to do was demolition.
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When they just give you a hammer and say have fun, right, you just go and you're just tearing stuff up, and I thought it was like man, this is my jam. I have missed my calling. I'm supposed to be a construction worker because this is so much fun. Well, after that, things slowed way down.
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And it slowed down because the guy who was in charge of this it was a pretty small job, but the guy who was in charge of the job, he was a master craftsman. I mean, he was a master and so he was slow. But what that meant was is because he knew so much about that job and he could see the end from the beginning. He knew where we were going, and so he was slow because he knew that everything was connected to everything else, and so he didn't rush anything and he would go through there and he would see what we would need, and it didn't matter how simple it was. He would measure every board at least twice, but then he would cut once. And I remember one day when and it was always a perfect cut and I remember one day he wasn't able to be there Myself and a couple of other young guys was like, man, we can get more done now because this guy's not here than we ever get done with him being here.
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So let's do this fast. Well, we would measure once and then cut the board we would need to the right size. Well, the problem was most of the time, because we didn't measure it twice and we weren't certain we would cut it wrong, and so we ended up using a whole lot more material than we needed, did a whole lot more like pulling the board back out and all this kind of stuff, and when the master craftsman showed up the next day, we'd actually got less work done than he normally did. And we learned a very valuable lesson that day, and the very valuable lesson was slow is fast when it's done right. Slow is fast when it's done right, and so the old phrase measure it twice, make sure it's right, so then you don't have to go back and do it again. Well, that's exactly what David has learned. He has finally learned how to do it right, and the reality is is it's going to be a whole lot slower than going and getting it on a cart, but when it's done right, then it's done slow. Here we are, you ready? Here we go.
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First Chronicles, chapter 15, verse one says this David now built several buildings for himself in the city of David. He also prepared a place for the ark of God and set up a special it says this Jerusalem to bring the ark of the Lord to the place that he had prepared for it. And the number of the descendants of Aaron and the priests and the Levites who were called together were from the clan of Kohath, 120 with Uriel as their leader. From the clan of Mariah, 220 with Isaiah as their leader. From the clan of Gershon, 130 with Joel as their leader. From the descendants of Elisphan, 200, with Shemiah as their leader. From the descendants of Hebron, 80, with Eliel as their leader. And from the descendants of Uzzahel was 112, with Abinadab as their leader.
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Then David summoned the priests Zadok and Abathar and the Levite leaders, uriel, ezahiah, joel, shemiaiah, elel and Abinadab. He said to them you are the leaders of the Levite families. You must purify yourselves and all your fellow Levites so you can bring the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place. I have prepared for it. Because you Levites did not carry the ark the first time the anger of God, the Lord of hosts, burst out against us. We failed to ask God how to move it properly. So the priests and the Levites purified themselves in order to bring the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to Jerusalem.
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Then the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders, with its carrying poles, just as the Lord had instructed Moses, david ordered the Levite leaders to appoint a choir of Levites who were singers and musicians, to sing joyful songs and to the accompaniment of harps, lyres and cymbals. So the Levites appointed Heman. Of course you're always going to appoint Heman, the son of Joel, along with his fellow Levites, asaph, son of Bechiah, bechiariah, berechiah, ethan, son of Cushiah, and, from the clan of Merari, the following men were chosen as their assistants Zechariah, jezel, jeremoth, jezel Jeremoth, jehel Uni, eliab, benahiah, massahiah, mattahiah, pelahuth, bemekaniah, and the gatekeepers Obed-Edom and Jehel. Pause, I was messing up all them names, but did you notice who had a new job? Obed-edom. He is now a gatekeeper in the house of God and I can't help but wonder. The Bible doesn't say but that ark spent three months at his house, and I wonder if that ark being in his house for three months changed Obed-Edom's life so much that Obed said hey, look, I don't care what my job is, I don't care if I got to be a gatekeeper, I'm spoiled, I want to be close to the presence of God forever. And so for the rest of his life he and his family were stationed at the gate because I wonder if he had been exposed to the presence of God and now no other job could do. I think that's awesome and we would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't messed up the names beforehand. All right, let's keep going.
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Verse 19. The musicians Heman, of course. Asaph and Ethan were chosen to sound the bronze cymbals. Zechariah, ezel, shurimoth, jehel, uni, eliab, mesahara, benahiah were chosen to play the harps he's also a flute player. Kenahiah, the head Levite, was chosen as the choir leader because of his skill. Barakaiah and Elkanahiah were chosen to guard the ark. Shepaniah, josaphat, nethanel, messiah, zechariah, benahiah and Eleazar. I love that so much.
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Israel and all the generals of the army went to the house of Obed-Edom to bring the Ark of the Lord's Covenant up to Jerusalem. With a great celebration and because God was clearly helping the Levites as they carry the Ark of the Lord's Covenant, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams. David was dressed in a robe of fine linen and all the Levites who carry the Ark, as were all the Levites who carry the Ark and Lord's Covenant, with shouts of joy, the blowing of ram's horns and the trumpets of crashing cymbals and playing loud harps and lyres. But as the Ark of the Lord's don't miss the point of one of the many takeaways we could take from this that I think is so powerful. And that is measure twice, cut once. The first time they tried to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, they just measured once hey, we need the Ark, so we're going to go get the Ark. And it didn't turn out well. The second time they dug in and they said you know what, this is going to take longer and this is going to be harder, but this is what God has asked me to do, this is what God's told me to do, so I'm going to do that and it'll make all the difference.
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Do you know, I think about that when it comes to reading God's word. I do that when it comes to praying. Sometimes, when it comes to building a relationship with someone, so that then, in the confidence of shared relationship, I can share the hope of the gospel, my story, with them. I think, man, this is going to take too long. But you know also, what I've learned is it takes even longer to build rapport. If I don't build rapport, I start shouting at people hey, you're a sinner, you need to get saved. Well, that makes it twice as hard to reach somebody. It's twice as hard to get to know God.
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If I'm rushing through reading four and five chapters a day because I'm trying to conquer God's word, rather than slowing down, reading one chapter a day, letting it soak in, it takes longer. If I'm just quickly, quickly, quickly praying through my spiritual grocery list and moving on, rather than spending time in God's presence, talking to him, fellowshipping with him, it seems like that's the wrong way to do it. If I want to learn God's word, why don't I read through as fast as I possibly can all this kind of good stuff? You can learn about God that way. But you know, what you might find out Is if you slowly and methodically, one chapter at a time, slowly ingest God's word. The Bible says I hide God's word in my heart so that I might not sin against him. Well, if you're reading super fast, you're not really hiding anything in your heart, you're just reading it fast. If you slow down, you might be amazed at what you find out. And in so many other areas, slow is actually fast because it's done well. I want to encourage you If sometimes you get frustrated that the ways of God seem slow, if praying and talking to the Lord, if it seems like God's not moving fast enough to reach your friends and your family.
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God's not answering your prayers fast enough. Let me promise you slow is fast Because when God does something in your life, he doesn't make mistakes. When it comes to getting to know God by reading his word and we're reading one chapter a day together you may get frustrated sometimes. I want to move faster, I want to grow faster, I want to whatever. Slow is fast. Don't become discouraged. Do it the right way and watch what God does. Slow is fast. Measure twice and cut once.
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Let's pray together, god, thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that you are with us and you're for us. And, lord, you don't play a finite momentary game. You play an infinite, an infinite world. You stand outside of time, so time is not a factor for you. Slow and steady becomes fast because it's all about learning and I know a lot of times, in so many areas of our life, we lose patience, sometimes because there's crises going on, and sometimes we just we want to know you more. I pray you'll help us to take one step at a time and realize God, you're with us and you're for us. And so we stay in the game, we stay close to you and we let you run the shots. Lord, we're here for you and we're thankful for you. In Jesus' name, we pray, amen and don't forget. God's word says in 1 Chronicles 29, 17,. I know, my God, that you examine our hearts and rejoice when you find integrity there. God knows you, he's for you and I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for 1 Chronicles, chapter 16.