1 Kings 5

Then King Solomon raised up a labor force out of all Israel; and the labor force was thirty thousand men. And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month in shifts: they were one month in Lebanon and two months at home; Adoniram was in charge of the labor force. (1Ki 5:13-14)

This temple was going to be big. Solomon had 10,000 men working in one month shifts. Let me start by saying this, these men worked hard. It only took them 7 years to build this temple. You may think 7 years sounds like a lot of time, but let me start by saying this; one of those tall buildings in the Reston Town Center takes about 3 years to build. That is only one building. Also, we have machinery. We have trucks to move supplies. We have cranes and bulldozers, dump truck and huge mechanical shovels (I forgot the name). They had none of this, and they built the temple in only seven years. What did they have instead? They had a wise leader, hard working men, and willing hearts.

This chapter challenges me. What would we be able to accomplish if we worked for the Lord like these men worked for the Lord? What would we be able to do if we were to allow the Lord to use all of our gifts together? This is why I love VBS and Ireland. You get to see the most different gifts come together to help out in one cause.

Jr. High and High Schoolers, I want to strongly encourage all of you to get out there and use your gifts for the Lord. I understand that many of you have loads of free time during the summer. See how you can use that free time for the Lord. See where you can get plugged in. Put together your own labor force for Jesus.