God’s Constant Choice for Man
1 Kings 9:4-7 (ESV)
4 And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, 5 then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ 6 But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
In the above passage we have what is a familiar theme in God’s Word. God is constantly giving us this choice: Follow Him and live, or reject Him and e meet with certain peril. In Deuteronomy 28-30, Moses does the same thing for Israel. At the end of the book at Joshua, Joshua does the same thing for Israel. In the Garden of Eden, God did the same thing with Adam and Eve. We are constantly being asked who we will love with all our heart, soul and mind. We have these choices to make. In the flesh we will always choose evil. But, in the Spirit we will always choose what is good and best. Solomon just spent years in a major construction project. He build a Temple for God and a house for Him and some cities for Israel. Now he had a choice to build a relationship with God. God wanted his complete devotion. He had in front of him splendor and majesty in buildings. But, would his heat stay true to God? That was what was facing him now. We all have this same choice. God or material goods? Remember, these were material goods that God ordained him to build (at least the Temple). So, these were good things. How would Solomon live his life? Stuff or a relationship with God?
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