Solomon's Blessing

I was reading through 1 Kings and came across one of Solomon's public blessings. I love how much truth is jam packed into this little bit of time and wanted to share.

First, here it is altogether:

"Praise be to the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses. May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our fathers; may he never leave us nor forsake us. May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep the commands, decrees and regulations he gave our fathers. And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day's need, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God and that there is no other. But your hearts must be fully committed to the LORD our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time." - 1 Kings 8:56-61

Now let's break it down to see what Biblical truth Solomon echoes in his blessing, and see what we can apply in our own lives and petitions to God. I think a lot. Solomon was a pretty wise guy you know. Much wiser than me, so I bet I miss something.

1) "Praise be to the LORD,"

Always a good idea to start out with praise for God. Whatever good it was, guess what? We didn't do it. All him.

2) "who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses."

God always keeps his promises, period. If we think he hasn't kept a promise to us, it either wasn't a promise from God, or we didn't understand it.

3) "May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our fathers; may he never leave us nor forsake us."

An echo back to the time of Moses where he encouraged the people, telling them not to be afraid or discouraged, because God will never leave them. Nor will he leave us. If we're apart from God, we did something to cause it. Figure it out. Fix it. In my life the barrier has always been sin in my life, failure to stay in the Word, or failure to connect with God in prayer. Typically those all go together.

4) "May he turn our hearts to him,"

I love this. It doesn't say "may we turn our hearts toward him" because that isn't going to happen. His Spirit moves like the wind. In my experience, it wasn't me who decided to look into Jesus and follow him. No. It was him drawing me to himself little by little, until I came to believe the Bible was true and knew that Jesus was who he claimed to be -- the savior of the world. Only in recognition of my terrible condition and the impossibility of doing anything about it on my own could I really cry out to Jesus to save me. And he did! He pulled one of those inside-out, new-creation, new-heart deals on me. I don't regret it.

5) "to walk in all his ways and to keep the commands, decrees and regulations he gave our fathers."

Duh. I don't know why people are so deaf to this sometimes. Even Jesus said it. "If you love me, obey my commandments." This is not a burden, but a blessing to us. If its a burden to us, we need to go back to #4 here -- if our hearts are turned totally toward God, how hard could #5 be? Jesus said "my yoke is easy and my burden light." Yeah, we all fall down. We all get convicted when we do. That's not the issue. When that happens, we repent, and we're restored. The issue is living in habitual willful sin versus living a godly life. That's not some monastery or priest thing -- that's just walking with the LORD every day. Keep our thoughts continually on him and we're golden.

6) "And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night,"

God hears all prayers!

7) "that he may uphold the cause of his servant"

And he's got our back!

8) "and the cause of his people Israel according to each day's need,"

This so reminds me of the "Lord's prayer" because of its focus on daily needs. We don't just come to the LORD when we're in a pickle. Maybe we do, but we shouldn't. It's a daily thing. It's a dependence thing. Learning that dependence on God in all things is huge. It's a life long lesson too.

9) "so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God and that there is no other."

Oh, oh oh! Here's a kicker. This isn't about us just getting taken care of and looking all goody two shoes and stuff. This isn't just about get right with God and we're done. Israel was supposed to be a light to the world. Now we are supposed to be a light to the world. Little lights all over the place pointing people to Jesus Christ. Remember what Jesus said? "Do good works before men so they may tell you how awesome you are." No! "Do good works before me so they may glorify your father in heaven!" That whole glorifying God in all we do thing again!

10) "But your hearts must be fully committed to the LORD our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.

No lukewarm here. No half-in, half-out. No one foot in the world and one foot in God. Like the guy in the Fireproof movie said -- "You have to be all in." Weekly church seat filling doesn't cut it. Being a "cultural Christian" doesn't cut it. Checking religious things off the list doesn't cut it. This isn't about religion; this is about a relationship with God. He wants the best, not the rest.

I love these nuggets in the Word. Grace and Peace friends!