1 Kings 8:56-61
56 “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. 57 May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers; may he never leave us nor forsake us. 58 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. 59 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, 60 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other.
61 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."
Verse 56: The Lord is faithful in His promised. All He has said has come true. Nothing has failed. God will be faithful to us in what He promises. Just remember that the Lord's promises are often qualified, "If my people... I will". So often we think that God has failed us when really we have failed God.
Verse 57: God is always with us. He is steady. He will not leave. So often we think "God is close." or "God is far from me right now." It's like a boat tied to a pier. The pier doesn't move, but the boat is tossed by the waves and moves in and out. We're the ones who move away from God.
Verse 58: We need to be turned to Him. If He is always with us, we're the ones who need changing. We need to follow Jesus and keep His commands. It's about living in obedience to God through a righteous lifestyle. Not to win our salvation, but out of a repentant heart.
Verse 59: God will meet the needs of His people. I just like the way God says it "each day's need". Don't expect God to reveal some long-term provision plan.
Verse 60: That "each day's need" speaks to all people as a testimony that God is true and faithful. It testifies to who He is.
Verse 61: Now all of this falls under the note that we must be fully committed to God, by our lifestyle and obedience. Not perfectly committed, but fully. In the long jump, every competitor is fully committed to going to furthest, however all but one will make it. They were still fully committed even in their failure.
1 comments:
Jason - the thoughts you shared from that scripture are good preaching = expository preaching. It is really good. In the long run, it is better than topical preaching because it is letting a scripture speak to us as it was written instead of picking verses from all over the place. -- Linden
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