How God counts

“Thou didst well in that it was in thine heart.” (1 Kings 8:18) 

One of the great desires of David’s heart was to build a Temple for Jehovah in Jerusalem. The Lord sent word that he would not be permitted to build the Temple because he was a man of war, but the Lord added these significant words, “Thou didst well in that it was in thine heart.”

It seems clear from this that God counts the desire for the act when we are unable to carry out our desires for Him. 

This does not apply when our failure to perform is due to our own procrastination or inaction. Here the desire is not enough. As has been said, the streets of hell are paved with good intentions. 

But there are many occasions in the Christian life when we want to do something to please the Lord but are prevented by circumstances beyond our control. A young convert, for instance, desires to be baptized but is forbidden by unbelieving parents. In such a case, God counts his unbaptism for baptism until he leaves home and can obey the Lord without being insubordinate to his parents. 

A Christian wife desires to attend all the meetings of the local assembly but her drunken husband insists that she stay at home. The Lord rewards both her subjection to her husband and her desire to meet with others in His Name. 

An aged sister wept as she watched others serving meals at a Bible Conference. It had been her great joy to do this for many years, but now she was physically unable. As far as God is concerned she receives as rich a reward for her tears as the others do for their labors. 

Who knows how many there are who have willingly offered themselves for service on the mission fields, yet they were never able to travel beyond their own hometown? God knows—and all of these holy aspirations will be rewarded at the Judgment Seat of Christ. 

The principle also applies in the matter of giving. There are those who are already investing sacrificially in the work of the Lord and just wish they could give more. In a coming day, the divine ledger will show that they did give more. 

The ill, the handicapped, the shut-ins, the aged are not cut off from first-place honors, because, “in His mercy, God judges us, not only by our achievements, but by our dreams.” 

W.D.