Forsake God; Accept Loss! 1 Chronicles 6-10

 2 Chronicles 7:18-22 (ESV Strong's)

18 then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to rule Israel.’

19 “But if you turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, 20 then I will pluck you up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 21 And at this house, which was exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’ 22 Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore he has brought all this disaster on them.’”

Forsake God; Accept Loss!

Solomon has just finished building the Temple.  It was a glorious edifice that God filled with His glory (See 7:1-3).   Solomon dedicates the Temple to God and makes promises to always obey God (he and the people).   God is delighted with the Temple, the sacrifices and the commitment.  But, in the above passage, God warns Solomon and Israel what will happen if they disobey God.   Their disobedience will be loss and disaster on them.   Apparently, subsequent generations did not have the same devotion and commitment that Solomon and those of his time had.  The nation would start to reject God immediately after Solomon’s death.   God was true to His Word.   When we reject God’s truth we put our lives in peril for judgment.   God keeps His Word.  He keeps His promises to save and He keeps His promises to destroy.   Israel can rejoice in the fact that God keeps His Word.   But, they failed to obey it.  So, too, we must realize today that God keeps His Word and it is something that He will never go back on in His expressions of love toward His people.   If we forsake God, we can be prepared to accept loss.