Scripture Nugget 6.6.2017
Scripture Read 1 Kings 5-9
Nugget 1 Kings 9:1-9
“When Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD and the king’s house and all that Solomon desired to build, the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. The LORD said to him, ‘I have heard your prayer and your plea (read 8:22-61) which you made before me; I have consecrated this house that you have built, and put my name there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time. 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 statues and my ordinances, then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised your father David, saying, “There shall not fail you a successor on the throne of Israel.” 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, then I will cut Israel off 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 taunt among all peoples. This house will become a heap of ruins; everyone passing by it will be astonished, and will hiss; and they will say, “Why has this LORD done such a thing to this land and to this house?” Then they will say, “Because they have forsaken the LORD their God, who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other gods, worshiping them and serving them; therefore the LORD has brought disaster upon them.”’”
Devotional Thought: Solomon’s prayer in today’s reading 8:22-53 anticipates the people of God sinning against God and pleads for God to hear and forgive when the people pray toward the temple, confess the name of God, confess their sin and turn from it. Whether individuals or corporately. God’s response? If you will walk before me with integrity of heart and uprightness … I will establish your throne forever; however, if you turn aside from following me, then In will cut you off. I God’s grace we are given a choice, we are given the freedom to choose to love God and be obedient to His will or go another way. The choice is important, the choice has consequences. Not just for ourselves but for those generations who follow. God is full of grace and mercy – we see it when God refers to David’s integrity of heart and uprightness – God forgave and erased David’s transgressions, as God will each of ours. But that forgiveness is not cheap, it comes at a price, a price God paid for us – it is a gift. Yet we must accept the gift. What choices have I/you/we made in the past, are in the process of making, or will make in the future; and how will they affect future generations? Let’s choose wisely my friends….