Year 1, Day 354: 1 Kings 13

God On Display

1 Kings 13 seems to be more about the authentic nature of God’s character than anything else.  In this chapter alone we have multiple prophecies, multiple actions that can only be explained supernaturally, and repeated disobedience.  Those ingredients within a story are like setting up a neon sign that reads: “God’s Power on Display Here.”

Let’s start with the prophecies.  We have:

• A Judean prophet who receives a word of God to go to Jeroboam’s altar and pronounce judgment against it.  He is told to go and come by different ways as well as to eat nothing while on the journey.  The man listens to the prophetic message and heads to Bethel.  (This is assumed by verse 1.)
• Prophesies about Josiah and the fact that these altars in the northern kingdom are false altars. 
• A prophecy about the death of the Judean prophet when he turns aside and eats with a prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel. 

All three of these prophecies come true.  The altar is torn down, and later we will hear about Josiah the king.  God did sustain the man without bread and water – well, until he was disobedient.  And we do also hear about the Judean prophet’s death.  God has the ability to make good on His word when His word is truly spoken.

We also have actions that can only be explained supernaturally: 

• First, we have a man successfully making a journey from Judah to Bethel without food or water.  Now, perhaps this might be only borderline supernatural.  But then again, what is the point of a religious fast?  Is a religious fast not an action done in order to demonstrate our reliance upon God’s provision over our own provision?  Therefore I think by definition a fast is a supernatural event.  It is a person being sustained by God and not their own internal biochemistry. 
• Second, we have the withering and restoration of Jeroboam’s arm.  That certainly is a demonstration of God’s power in an attempt to protect this prophet who has come to do His will. 
• Third, we have the tearing down of the altars.  You might think that this is not necessarily a supernatural event, perhaps the people there tore the altars down themselves after seeing the withering of Jeroboam’s arm.  But even in this case we can see it as a supernatural event.  These people had gathered with Jeroboam to make sacrifices.  They were originally in favor of these altars.  The altars either get torn down supernaturally or they get torn down by people who have had their hearts impacted supernaturally enough to get them to tear down the false altars.  Either way it is an act of supernatural means!  {Although personally I think the altar is torn down by God as the text mentions the destruction of the altars in the same place as the supernatural withering of Jeroboam’s hand}. 
• Finally, we have the supernatural act of the lion attacking the prophet, killing him, but not eating the prophet or dragging him off to store him for a later meal.  In fact, it is also a bit supernatural that the prophet’s donkey would stand in the presence of the lion.

What do these supernatural actions tell us about God and our relationship with Him?  Let’s look at these actions in the light of Jesus’ teaching at the end of the triumphal entry found in Luke 19:28-40.  There Jesus tells the Pharisees (and us) that if the people around Him would have kept quiet then the stones themselves would have cried out.  What is the fairly cryptic point that I am making here?  Well, God does not need us to accomplish His will.  God desires us to participate.  God wants us to be a part of His plan.  But He does not fundamentally need us.  God accomplished creation by His own and He accomplished bringing salvation to mankind all on His own.  God does not fundamentally need us.  He desires to work with us very much, but it is no need that God has from us.

We also learn that God has high expectations for us who are called to His service.  God expects that when we answer His call we will follow Him.  When we don’t follow Him, we can expect to be disciplined.  When we don’t follow His leading, we can expect things to not go all that smoothly.

Finally, we see pictures of disobedience:

• To begin, Jeroboam’s altar is a disobedient act.
• The prophet turns aside from God’s will and eats because he trusts the world of another prophet over that which he directly heard from God.
• Jeroboam continues in disobedience even after all the events of this story play out.

The Prophet of God

Looking at the prophet, I began my study of this passage wondering how lucky I am to have escaped God’s wrath that He poured out on this prophet for disobedience.  How many times have I felt like I knew where God was leading me and yet I have turned aside?  Yet – Lord willing! – I have not been killed by a lion!

But I think there is a little difference here.  It is one thing to “feel” or “discern” your way to God’s will and get it wrong.  It is another thing to “hear God’s will audibly” and go against it.  I’ll give you two examples.  I audibly heard the voice of God calling me forward to be baptized.  I have also audibly heard God’s voice indicating to me that ministry of one kind or another would be my vocation.  For me to have refused baptism or refused to be open to ministry would have been absolutely wrong! * 

However, I don’t often hear the voice of God in ministry.  I have to listen to His Spirit (which is far more complicated), listen to the Christians around me, evaluate the situation before me, and discern.  This is a far more complex process and I believe God grants a bit more leeway before jumping straight to punishment and condemnation here!  At least, my experience is that He grants far more leeway when we are asked to discern His will than when He comes right out and tells it to us in plain words.

Jeroboam

Finally, looking at Jeroboam I find this a sad story.  Even after these great displays of God’s power he still cannot turn his heart to God.  But this is no surprise.  I see people all around me who have the evidence of God’s working in their life all around them and they refuse to turn from their ways, their tradition, their desires and instead embrace what God wants to do in their midst.  It is the way of humanity, after all.  God can send us the prophets, the Word, and real tangible change that we can see in the people around us and we don’t always hear Him and repent.  We are a headstrong people, praise be to God that He is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love!

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*Yes, it is true that I didn’t go up to be baptized the day I heard God’s voice because I was 8 and confused.  But after talking to my dad, gaining his wisdom, and waiting to hear it the very next week – and hearing it! – I went running forward to embrace it.  And yes, I didn’t embrace ministry from the beginning, either – and shame on me because I deserve to be judged for that! – but I was not closed to the possibility, either.  I asked God to help me grow into that understanding.  I should have embraced and understood God from the moment that He spoke to me.  But I was not ready, and for that I will be judged correctly.  But while I was not ready, I was still open.  I think that’s the important point here.

Year 1, Day 353: 1 Kings 12

Taxing the Masses

In this chapter we get a small glance backward into the kingdom of Solomon.  When Rehoboam takes over, the people come to Rehoboam and ask for some relief.  Apparently Solomon had set a high rate of tax on the people in order to afford all of the building and expansion that went on in his time.  Of course, any taxed population will grumble over their taxes regardless of what level the taxation happens to be.  However, I think that it is fairly reasonable to assume that Solomon’s taxes were pretty extensive. 

I think we can hear this chapter in the light of the expectations placed on others.  People will assume that some expectations are reasonable.  People might even be willing to put up with more expectations than seems reasonable for a short time if the outcome is desirable.  But a people who reap no benefit from the raised expectations will eventually rebel.  In our American context, I think this is a very timely message.  I am hearing more and more complaints about the expectations of taxation being greater than the benefit gained by the average person.  Those in leadership should always have an ear tuned to this dynamic.

This is Rehoboam’s mistake.  Rehoboam is faced with a simple choice: having the will of the people but experiencing less grandeur than his father versus increasing upon the grandeur of his father but risking a revolt from the people.  The older and wise counselors tell Rehoboam that it is better to have the will of the people than personal glory and fame.  They tell Rehoboam that it is better to lead modestly than to not lead at all.

But Rehoboam doesn’t listen.  Greed enters into the picture.  Thirst for power and control enters into the picture.  Rehoboam decides that he cannot live with less than Solomon had so he greedily plans to step up the expectation of taxation.  The people rebel.

Consequences From God

Instead of the fame and glory that Rehoboam thought he could achieve by being a hard ruler, Rehoboam gets a divided kingdom.  He gets the reputation as the one who divides the kingdom.  His greed causes him to lose his grip on what he could get.  But we learn something else in this chapter.  We learn that this is of the Lord.

Does this mean that God forced his will upon Rehoboam and wanted the kingdom to split?  No, certainly not.  What this means is that the Lord knew that the hearts of the people did not truly belong to Him.  God knew that the people would only learn true faith through adversity.  God knew that it had been a long time since the Hebrew people had come to God in the midst of adversity and their loyalty had waned.  God desires to let the people have their way knowing that their pursuit of the things of the world would eventually lead them into conflict with the Assyrians and the Babylonians. 

God knew that the split in the kingdom would allow the true character of the people to rise to the surface.  Once on the surface, it could be exposed.  Once it is exposed it can be dealt with.  This is the tough process of character refinement developed through their captivity.

Jeroboam

Of course, it doesn’t take long for the true character of the people to show, especially in the case of Jeroboam.  Jeroboam knows that if his people continue to go to Jerusalem they will be tempted to continue to look to Rehoboam as a potential leader.  The only way to assure their loyalty is to make it so that they don’t need to leave the northern kingdom for them to do the worship that they desire.  Jeroboam sets up two additional temples with false gods to alleviate this potential problem.

But there is something deeper going on here.  If the people in Israel (Jeroboam’s northern kingdom) would have continued to go to Jerusalem (which was in Judah – Rehoboam’s southern kingdom) to worship, they might have rediscovered true religion.  Some of them might have truly found God.  Theological unity could have potentially brought about political reunification.  Jeroboam’s construction of the two temples in the northern kingdom is a direct obstacle to God’s people reaching out and discovering God for themselves.  As a result, Jeroboam’s own thirst for his own kingdom gets in the way of the common person’s relationship with God.

This is also quite a valuable lesson to learn for today.  How often do own our desires get in the way of other people’s abilities to know God?  Especially as leaders, how often do our policies and goals get in the way of people finding true faith in God?  When leaders step forward and pursue their own goals rather than pursuing the goals of God, we ultimately will get in the way as much as Jeroboam gets in the way of the people’s ability to know God.

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Year 1, Day 352: 1 Kings 11

Closing the Book

Today we get to close the book on Solomon.  The first 8 verses of this passage is clear about several things.  First, it was his many foreign wives who turned his heart away from God.  Second, his heart was not fully the Lord’s.  Third, he valued the desires of his wives more than God’s desires.

The Value of a Spouse

Let’s start with the first point.  Over the past week I’ve made reference time and time again with Solomon’s foreign wives.  We’ve heard that God didn’t want His people marrying foreign women.  But let me be clear about this.  This commandment wasn’t a racial prejudice.  God isn’t saying that the only spouses good enough for a Hebrew person is another person with Hebrew genetics.  We know this isn’t true based on the patriarchs and early Hebrew people.  Joseph married an Egyptian.  Moses married a non-Hebrew.  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all married non-Hebrew women, although we can say that their wives did come from their own people.  Boaz, a grandparent of David, married a Moabite.  Clearly God is not prejudiced against non-Hebrews.

What is going on here has everything to do with turning the hearts of the Hebrews away from God.  Right there is the key to the whole issue.  God doesn’t want His people turning to other gods – much less away from Him!  In all the examples listed above where a Hebrew righteously married a non-Hebrew, the non-Hebrew spouse did not hinder the faith of the Hebrew.  In fact, in a number of cases the spouse actually helped bring the spouse closer to God!

I can’t make enough of this point.  When I was young, my parents impressed upon me the importance of marrying a believer in Christ.  I didn’t have the maturity to understand the significance of this point, and as such I dated some girls who had great faith and other girls who had little faith.  I feel incredibly fortunate to have married a woman of faith who can support me when I am weak rather than pull me away from God.  Of all the attributes I looked for in a wife, none of them has turned out as important as the faith of my spouse.  Yes, I think she’s beautiful.  Yes, I value her ability to think for herself and her thirst for knowledge.  Yes, she has a great personality.  But above all those characteristics it is awesome to have a faithful spouse who can point me to God and God’s ways when I am down.  This is such an important point and a point worth bringing out as we close the book on Solomon.

Our Heart, Not Our Sin

The next point that this passage is clear about was that his heart was not fully committed to the Lord as was his father David.  Note that this is said more than once, even!  We should be careful to note that this is not a commentary on sinfulness.  David had sin; Solomon had sin.  So we should not think that just because we sin we are not the Lord’s.

Rather, what this means is that Solomon is not focused on repentance when He sinned.  David sinned, but he was contrite.  Solomon sinned and did not turn to God.  Therein lies the difference.  As Christians we should always evaluate ourselves not on our perfection, but our willingness to be contrite and humble with respect to our sinfulness.

Pleasing Others

The third point of these first 8 verses really comes out of the second point.  Solomon builds the worship places that his many wives want.  In that, Solomon proves that he is more interested in pleasing the desires of his wives than the desires of God.  This is a dangerous pattern of behavior.  When we seek to please the desires of others instead of pleasing God, we are in trouble.

Solomon’s Adversaries

So the Lord raised up a host of adversaries against Solomon.  Note how many of these adversaries had ties to David’s sin.  No doubt Solomon learned his love of women from David, so it is fitting that God raised up adversaries from David’s other sinful acts to come against Solomon.  What can we learn here?  We can learn that God does not hold the sins of the father against the faithful son.  But to the son who learns the sinfulness of the father, he can expect generational trouble to come his way.

Yet, God remembers His promise to David.  God does not strip away the whole kingdom.  God continues to remind the people that if they simply are faithful to His ways then He will be with them.  In spite of Solomon’s turning away from the Lord, God still puts the offer of faithfulness onto the table. 

So it is with all of us.  Regardless of the sinfulness (or faithfulness) of our family we can find God’s promise.  Regardless of the sinfulness (or faithfulness) of our community we can find the promise of God if we come to Him and His ways.  Regardless of the sinfulness (or faithfulness) of our nation we can find God’s promise if we come to Him and His ways.

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Year 1, Day 351: 1 Kings 10

Visit From the Queen

Today we get the famed visit from the Queen of Sheba.  The queen comes because she has heard of Solomon’s wisdom on splendor.  She wants to come and see it for herself; she wants to make an alliance if the reports that she had heard are true.  In a way, this is a sad story.  It shows humanity’s desire to align ourselves with the rich and famous.  No doubt the Queen of Sheba wanted to associate with Solomon to try and benefit from having a powerful friend, a profitable trading partner, and a wise counsel.  I’m not trying to judge the queen, but merely learn what I can from her actions.

As human beings we have a tendency to value our relationships with the powerful and the prestigious.  How many of us “name drop” from time to time when it is to our advantage?  But whose names do we drop?  Certainly we name drop the names of the famous, the wealthy, and the powerfully connected.  How many of us name drop the local homeless person with whom we shared lunch, the local teenager who nobody knows exists, or the common working man in our churches?

But who is it that Jesus sends us out to meet?  We are to go to the whole world, not just the rich and famous.  We are to value all relationships and to see every person as someone important to the kingdom of God.  God cares no less for the local homeless woman than He does for the highly paid actress - although keep in mind He cares no less for the actress than He does for the homeless woman, too!  We are to value all people for what they can be with God.

Solomon’s Priorities

As we look specifically at Solomon, let’s take a glance at the two places that his wisdom and wealth are mentioned in this chapter (verses 7 and 23 respectively).  Notice that the Queen of Sheba reports on Solomon’s wisdom and prosperity yet in the latter verse we hear about Solomon’s riches and wisdom.  I may be making a mountain out of a molehill, but I think it is intentional that these words are switched in order.  As Solomon grows wealthy, receives visits from other nations, grows his harem, and all the other things I believe his desire for wealth dominates his appreciation of wisdom.  This is the danger of wealth.  When we are wealthy, we focus on maintaining and increasing our wealth.

In fact, as this chapter winds down we hear about the ways that Solomon increased his wealth through the other nations.  I think we should be careful here.  Solomon is increasing his own wealth rather than being prospered by the Lord.  In fact, from verses 14 through 29 we only have one mention of the Lord, and that reference is specific to the wisdom that God put in Solomon’s mind.  Again it is my belief that this is an intentional point.  Solomon has fallen so much in love with his prosperity that he has begun to focus on increasing his own wealth above and beyond what God provided.  In a nutshell: Solomon loses his focus.  {And let’s not forget about the spiritual significance regarding the fact that Solomon’s yearly income was 666 talents of gold!  Numbers in the Bible are usually chosen more for spiritual significance than for scientific fact.}

If we look to Matthew 6:28-29 we hear a sharp criticism from Jesus upon Solomon.  Solomon was a wealthy man and he was arrayed in great splendor.  But anyone lacking the splendor of God is less than something arrayed by God’s splendor.  Jesus isn’t saying that the lily is more beautiful than Solomon; Jesus is saying that anything touched by God’s hand is more beautiful than something clothed by the efforts of mankind.  We should hear this loud and clear as we close the book on Solomon today and tomorrow.  Our focus and our dependence should be upon God and God’s provision rather than our own provision.

Remembering God’s Command

Finally, in preparation for tomorrow, I will refer us all once more to read Deuteronomy 17:16-20.  There we have a list of advice for the kings of the Hebrew people.  Compare this to Solomon’s account:

• Don’t go back to Egypt to get horses.
• Don’t acquire many wives.
• Don’t acquire excessive gold or silver.
• Write the law out, keep it by your side, and study it.
• Do the law in such a way as to not lift yourself above the people around you.

What do you think?  Did Solomon set himself up to succeed or to fail with respect to God’s ways?  Is there any surprise that tomorrow’s text usually contains the section header of: Solomon turns from the Lord?

What does that passage in Deuteronomy say to us about avoiding the mistakes of Solomon?  Do we return to our old ways for material gain?  Do we desire a life other than how God has structured it?  Do we perceive the accrual of money as the solution to our troubles?  Do we focus on God’s Word like we should?  Do we elevate ourselves above our neighbors?

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Year 1, Day 350: 1 Kings 9

The Difference Between Solomon and David

Today it appears to be judgment time.  I don’t want to be too harsh on Solomon, but there is a need for a simple truth.  We know David was loved by the Lord because David was the Lord’s servant.  Yes, he screwed up and sinned.  But David repented and confessed in his error.  And the reality is that we don’t hear God coming back to David and reminding him “if you remain in my ways.” 

But we do repeatedly hear God coming back to Solomon and reminding Solomon of the agreement.  We hear God say it through David in chapter 2, through prayer in chapter 3, through prayer in chapter 6, through his own confession in chapter 8, through prayer in chapter 9, and in judgment in chapter 11.

As I read through these first nine verses I can really get a sense that God is unsure about Solomon.  God presents His case to Solomon as if Solomon is still on the fence.  Of course, one could say that God knows where Solomon will end up so God is actually quite sure about Solomon and doesn’t like it at all.  I think God knows here that Solomon has not given his heart to God as David had done.

I think that we really need to dwell on this topic.  I know I’ve been pushing it hard the last few days, but I really want to be ready for the final analysis of Solomon.  I think we need to spend some time thinking about it because this is so vitally applicable to most Christians – and especially pseudo-Christians – today.  The question that begs to be asked is:

• whether I (or you) am like David who has fully given his heart to God yet occasionally makes mistakes and repents of them, or
• whether I (or you) am like Solomon who can go through the motions and know all the right things to say but when push comes to shove is still sitting on the fence.

Let’s face it.  That is one of the core issues facing mainstream Christianity today.  Am I really sold out for Jesus Christ and willing to do what God asks me to do or am I simply following God because that’s how I was brought up?  Am I willing to lay my life before the Lord, bear everything, and humble myself in confession when I see just how much I have screwed up?  Or am I more interested in putting on a good show to convince myself and the people around me just how righteous I think I am?  Am I willing to sacrifice everything for God’s ways or am I interested in building my kingdom the way I think God wants it built?

I think I am getting to a real truth here in ministry.  You see, God came to David several times through various people and convicted David of his sin.  But that process worked because David fully bought into what God was selling.  David was fully vested in God.  David was willing to knock himself to the floor in repentance before he would ever think that God’s ways were wrong and not worth following. 

But Solomon is a different beast.  I don’t think Solomon has fully bought into God’s ways because God has to keep coming to him and reminding him that he still needs to choose whether or not he is going to follow God’s ways of the ways of the world.  It’s much harder to go before a person who is living like this and convict them of their sinful behavior.  How does anyone convict another person of sinfulness if they are not fully bought into the full and complete authority of God’s Word?

Spiritual Community

There.  I think I finally said what it has taken me five paragraphs to get out.  If we want to experience a true community of God’s people, we need to be fully vested in God’s ways and the authority of God.  If we live as though we are sitting on the fence, then we can’t expect true godly community or even godly results! 

If we live in such a way as to make excuses for sin and sinners, or if we live in ways that tell other people that God’s Word is not the sole authority in our life, or if we live in ways that indicate to others that we are not willing to put ourselves under the authority of God’s Word and repent when necessary then there will be no community of godly people.  There will instead be a community of people who get along as long as everyone agrees on what they think God wants.  And that is far different than living in a community that is centered on what God actually wants.  We need to vest ourselves in God’s ways and live like it.

Evidence

To show how Solomon was not vested in the Lord, we see him begin to make alliances in the end of this chapter.  These alliances show a growing desire to be self-reliant and to go against God’s Word.  Solomon gains an alliance with Hiram and deals unfairly with Hiram in the process by giving him worthless cities in exchange!  Solomon gains an alliance with Egypt through the Pharaoh and his daughter and goes against God’s specific instructions for his people to not rely upon Egypt’s strength or to even go back to Egypt!  Solomon gains other alliances as mentioned in this passage as well.

It appears to me that Solomon is not vested in God.  Solomon is not living as though God is authoritative.  In fact, as I read through this passage what it sounds to me is that Solomon has a desire to stick his fingers in many “pots” rather than committing to the “pot” of God.  He is demonstrating traits of pluralism – and polytheism, too!  Solomon wants to make alliance with other nations and value their ways (pluralism).  This will lead to Solomon certainly desiring to please the Hebrew God as well as the gods of his many wives (polytheism) – many of which were products of these alliances.  Solomon’s pluralistic approach to life leads him straight away from the monotheism that God desires.  I really believe that much of the issue is in Solomon’s lack of commitment to being vested in God’s authority.

This is a concept we should consider deeply.  Am I really vested in God?  Am I really willing to lay everything down should God require it?  Am I really interested in doing whatever it takes to be in a relationship with God?  Or am I in it for the easy stuff and the benefits, but I’m not really vested?  Am I interested in what God can provide, but not really committed to doing things His way?  These are deep questions that we should ponder long and hard about throughout our whole lives.

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Year 1, Day 349: 1 Kings 8

Confession

Okay, I am cynical today.  I apologize about it beforehand.  But I am cynical about all this sacrificing and prayer going on in this chapter.  I find it odd that here we have a whole chapter dedicated to the lavishness of the thousands of sacrifices offered up and the verbose prayers offered up – yet this passage stands in contrast to Hosea 6:6 and Psalm 51:15-17.  God desires steadfast love rather than sacrifice.  God desires knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.  The psalmist says that God does not delight in sacrifice or he would give them.  Rather, God delights in a broken spirit and a contrite heart.

So I pause for a minute and reflect on everything that we read today.  How did God react to such an event?

God’s Reaction

Well, we do know that the presence of the Lord filled the Temple.  So certainly God did not react negatively.  I don’t want anyone to think that I am saying Solomon’s lavishness was sinful in the eyes of God.  Certainly God came and dwelled within the Temple, so at the very least God accepted and received what was offered up to Him.  But was God convinced about Solomon?  I’ll leave that question lingering for the day, but go ahead and read His reaction to Solomon in 1 Kings 9:3-9 and decide for yourself how convinced God is based on the sacrifices offered.  You’ll get my opinion tomorrow.

Self-Reflection

I do want to pause, though, and turn the thoughts of this chapter onto myself and allow you to turn it onto yourself.  How often do I give God what I think He wants rather than giving God what He truly wants?  I think He wants me to come and worship once a week.  I think He wants me to cut a check to the church for 10% of my income.  I think He wants me to acknowledge that He’s here, to sing songs about Him, and to say some Creed confessing the He’s real. 

Don’t get me wrong.  None of these things are bad; just like the plethora of sacrifices that Solomon offered are not bad.  But is that what God really wants?

What do Hosea and the Psalmist seem to indicate God wants? 

• God wants me to pursue Him in knowledge.  God wants me to have an unquenchable thirst that cannot get enough of Him.  God wants me to beat down the doors of my spiritual leaders and absorb all they can give to me.  God wants me to wear out the covers of the theological collections to which I have access so that I can learn more about Him.
• God wants me to love Him steadfastly through the day and the weeks and the years, not just periodically when it is convenient.
• God wants me to be broken before Him – how often do I present myself as broken at any time, much less before Him?
• God wants me to be contrite.  How often am I genuinely sorrowful for my wrongdoings?

God wants so much more than what I choose to give Him.  He definitely wants something different than what I think He wants.  I think I can define a portion of my life to give to God.  But He wants it all.  Do I actually think that I can please Him with anything until I have given Him everything?

Do I give God what He wants?  Or do I give Him what I think He wants?  Do I give Him a glorious worship service when He wants a genuine one?  Do I focus on the beauty of the worship when God would rather me focus on a deeply spiritual contrition and grace?  Am I so worried about doing it “right” according to the eyes of mankind that I don’t give a moment’s thought to whether it is really right in the eyes of God?  I can have the most glorious worship, filled with the most glorious procession/recession, using the most glorious gold implements, dressed in the most glorious robes, speaking with the most glorious charisma, distributing the most glorious bread and wine.  But if my heart is not contrite, if my heart is not truly following God, if I do not genuinely pursue God – what worth is any of it?

Back to Solomon

In this aspect I find it extremely telling that so much of Solomon’s prayer focuses on repentance and forgiveness.  Solomon knows the depth of the sinfulness of humanity.  Solomon understands that human beings always focus on the wrong things.  Solomon’s prayer is a plea for God to never stop turning us back to Him and to never stop relenting from the punishment we truly deserve.

Yet, this is the man who ultimately finds himself following other gods.  Oh, how we can say all the rights words and do all the right actions and make such an incredible show about our faith.  But if it does not genuinely live in our heart, what is it worth?  All the knowledge in the world about repentance is useless unless we remember to repent and turn back to the Lord.  All the pomp and circumstance is pointless unless we do it with genuine contrition and a genuine desire to seek the Lord.

Deuteronomy 4:29 tells us: “You will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.”  Isaiah 55:6 tells us: “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near.”  There is a warning in both of these passages.  We will find the Lord when we seek after Him with all of our heart.  And we best seek Him now when He can be found.  Who among us knows for sure that we can put it off until tomorrow?  Pursue Him fully today.  Give everything today.  For Christ sake, don’t wait any longer!

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{And yes, I mean it when I say “for Christ’s sake.”  It’s not just some expression, I mean do it for Christ!}

Year 1, Day 348: 1 Kings 7

Better Than a Tithe

So today the first fact that we learn in the first verse is that it took Solomon 13 years to build his own house.  Now, I understand that there are time constraints (or problems) that come along and push the builder back.  But let’s be clear about something.  It took Solomon 7 years to complete the Temple of the Lord and 13 years to complete his house.  Of the 20 years he built, 2/3 of the time was spent on his own personal construction.

My first instinct is to really slam that fact today.  I mean, if there is any act that demonstrates greater concern for himself than for God this is it, right?  To some extent I think this criticism is warranted.  Solomon spends twice as long on his own personal building than he does on the building of the Lord.  Where is his focus, right?

On the other hand, how guilty am I of the same thing?  I count myself as having fulfilled my “duty” to God when I hit the 10% mark!  10% of my money, time, and effort equals a tithe, right?  Well, Solomon clearly gives 33% according to the Word.  So I don’t know if the criticism really should last.  He does go above and beyond the call of duty over three times what would have been expected.  I am humbled by this today.  I came in today ready to blast Solomon and as I type this I find myself needing to be humbled by Solomon’s example.

Temple Furnishings

There is much to be said about the Temple furnishings given at the end of this chapter, but I am going to focus especially on the two named pillars: Jachin and Boaz.  Jachin means “He shall uphold” and Boaz means “May strength be in Him.”  These pillars are reminiscent of the advice that God has twice given to Solomon: “If you only follow in my ways then I will establish my covenant with you.”

How sad it is that these pillars would stand for less than 500 years.  In fact, how sad it is that the person who erected these pillars and named them could not hold fast to their meaning!  Thirty years (or so) after these pillars are erected the kingdom is split and caught in a full slide away from God’s ways.  Things progressively go from bad to worse (with a few bright spots in the kings of Judah) until Judah is taken into captivity and the temple is destroyed.  How sad it is that the advice of God isn’t followed.

Again, though, I have to feel the criticism point right back towards me – or in this case my own country.  How long ago was the heyday for American Christianity?  We had the first Great Awakening in the 1720’s -1750’s with pastors like Jonathon Edwards and George Whitefield leading great theological movements.  In the early 1800’s we experience a second Great Awakening movement led by preachers such as Lyman Beecher and Peter Cartwright.  The late 1800’s saw the development of the Third Great Awakening that brought about the Salvation Army and the Holiness movement.  The years following World War II saw a Fourth Great Awakening with the arrival of preachers like Billy Graham and movements like the Jesus Movement.  Regardless of whether or not you agree with all the spiritual points in this paragraph, it is clear that the Holy Spirit has been at work in our country.  And look at us now.  An awakening happens, a generation enjoys it, and then we slide into spiritual decline.  We are not really any different than the Hebrew people after their Temple was constructed.

In all of this, I think we can learn two things.  First, we must be vigilant with our faith.  We must be vigilant with teaching our faith to the next generation.  We must not weaken in our pursuit of God.

Yet, we must also realize that falling away from God is part of humanity.  We must expect great spiritual movements to wane.  After all, look at the act of Pentecost in the New Testament.  Certainly the church has moved forward since Pentecost, but it didn’t take even a full generation for the spiritual effect of Pentecost to lessen.  It is the way of the world.  This is why we must be vigilant in the pursuit of our faith.

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Year 1, Day 347: 1 Kings 6

Alright, yesterday I gave a longer than average blog post.  So today I will compensate and hopefully stick to the point.  As I read the passage for the building of the Temple I had a few quick thoughts.

Timing Is Everything

First, I think Solomon does deserve some credit for building the Temple before he builds his own palace.  In this instance Solomon honors God before himself and we should learn from that.

Everything in Time

Second, I think we should look at how it was constructed.  It was made of stone so that it would last.  The stone was overlaid with wood so that the wood could be overlaid with gold.  Gold does not oxidize (rust).  Gold does not deteriorate over time.  Clearly Solomon is intending to build a temple for the Lord that would be permanent.  It is a testimony to the belief that the God of the Hebrew people will not fade away or pass away.  He is no fleeting God; He deserves a house that is permanent.

Of course, we as Christians do not have a temple.  However, this same thought works well with us.  If we take seriously that God has come to dwell with us – within us, even! – then our bodies are His temple as the New Testament asserts in several places.  If our bodies are His temple, then we should view our activities as things which should promote the perpetuity of God.  When we sin, we discredit the Temple of God.  I think this is an important perspective to remember.  Sin is not just going against God’s ways; sin is evidence of our lack of faith in the permanence of God’s temple.  Sin is us trying to wrest God’s temple out of His hands and making it to become a temple unto ourselves.  In a word: sin is being a self-monger.

Of course, this leads me back to Solomon.  We know Solomon falls in the end and worships the foreign gods of the Egyptians and the Canaanites.  He who built a “permanent” temple for the Lord did not keep himself a permanent temple for God.  This is why I think it is so important to see the words that we have in 1 Kings 6:11-13.  Once more God tells Solomon: “If you keep my ways …”  God is still trying to obtain Solomon’s heart.  God is still attempting to reach Solomon as He was able to reach David, his father.  Solomon may have built the Temple of the Lord, but God is not convinced that Solomon’s heart is genuinely His.

Prioritizing Life

I think that it is also important to hear those words with respect to the temple.  God is telling Solomon quite clearly that the buildings and traditions of mankind are nothing compared to keeping the Word of God.  Solomon can build the best building ever, but that is not what God desires.  God desires true faith.  God desires that Solomon pursue God in humbleness and righteousness.  It’s not that building the temple is bad; it is that it is penultimate.  {That’s a great word, by the way.  No Christian should go through life any longer than necessary without understanding the definition of penultimate. It is so useful when talking about faith and works.}

This makes me think of my experience with American Christianity.  How much of what we do every day is penultimate?  Does God care how tall the flowers are on the altar?  Does God care about whether the choir wears robes?  Does God care about what color the carpet is and whether we have cinder-block walls?  Or does God care about how we follow His ways?  Does our building matter anywhere near as much as whether or not we are caring for the orphans and widows in our midst?  Does our stuff matter anywhere near as much as whether or not we honor our father and mother, love our neighbor, and love our Lord God with our whole being?

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Year 1, Day 346: 1 Kings 5

David

As I look at this passage regarding the preparations for the building of the Temple, I have two main thoughts.  The first is a call back to remember the first time that the Temple is brought up.  It is David who wants to build God a permanent temple in Jerusalem.  David doesn’t feel right dwelling in a fancy house that God had provided while God Himself dwells in a movable tabernacle (or tent).  Yet, God does not want the Temple built by David because David has been a military general and his deeds are tainted with shed blood.

I think it is good to keep in mind that this project is done largely because of David.  It was David’s idea.  In fact, if we read a parallel passage from the story as recorded by the Chronicler (1 Chronicles 28:9-21) we understand that what is happening here is largely David’s plan and David’s idea. 

Solomon has heard the desires of his father and is putting them into place.  This is a testimony of Solomon’s obedience and love for his father’s wishes.  But it ultimately is David’s doing.

Composite Workforces

The other thought that I had as I read this passage is far more profound.  Notice that the building of the Temple happens through the efforts of Jews, Sidonians {Tyre and Sidon are often linked together in the Bible}, and probably Canaanite slaves {see 1 Kings 9:20-22}.  The building of the Temple of the Lord was completed through a work force made up of different nations!

Maybe you can sense where I am going with this.  Let me say this even more bluntly.  The workforce that built the Temple of the Lord was made up of Jews and Gentiles.  There, I think that says it all.  God’s permanent dwelling on earth – well, as permanent as it would ever be – was built by the hands of the Jews and the Gentiles.  I think this is quite significant.

Of course, you probably also realize the foreshadowing that is going on here.  It took both Jews and Gentiles to build God’s stone and wood Temple.  After Jesus came to the earth and died for our sins, it would take both Jews and Gentiles to build His Church, too.  Here in this chapter we find another significant story indicating God’s desire to include the Gentiles in His work.

Each time I come across a passage like this I am amazed at how the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day missed the point of stories like this.  I also wonder how the earlier Christian leaders that dealt with Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles also missed stories like this.  But I don’t linger in that place very long without also pointing the finger at myself.  I wonder what it is that I miss.  So for the rest of the blog I am going to focus in that area.

What I Miss

There are two stories that haunt me more than any other among the teachings of Jesus found in the New Testament.  The first is found in Matthew 25:31-46 – the parable of the sheep and the goats.  I often wonder as to whether I am a sheep or a goat.  I mean, I truly believe we should be feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and welcoming the stranger.  But I find that so much of what I do as a pastor – or even more generically as a Christian – has absolutely nothing to do with any of these tasks.  Sure, I might be able to say that as a pastor I am “making disciples” – and that is another avenue of work that God wants done.  But how much administration do I do?  How much arguing over theology found in constitutions or mission statements eats up all my energy when I should be doing ministry according to Matthew 25?  Do I actually believe constitutions and mission statements are more important than mission?  Let it not be so!  But then why is my time spent so heavily in things that are of such little significance?

I think I am no different than the Jewish leaders who miss the importance of the Gentiles in this passage from 1 Kings 5.  Like them, I miss some of the most important theological teachings myself.  Some of the easiest lessons to hear are the ones I struggle implementing.

The other story that haunts me is found in Matthew 19:16-30 - the rich young ruler, see also Mark 10:17-31 and Luke 18:18-30.  Here is a person who seems to do all the right things but he can’t let go of his own life in order to truly become a disciple.  Can there be a clearer message than this story?  We can either hold onto the world or hold onto Jesus.  All of Jesus’ disciples gave up their lives; there is no wiggle room for this.  Yet how often am I more like the rich young ruler in that I want to follow God’s ways and “do” all the right things but I’m not really willing to fully buy into what Jesus is teaching? 

Sure, I do my blog daily.  I preach, teach, make disciples, baptize, argue the faith, listen to those who need to be listened, etc.  But I have a home that is far larger than what I need.  I have a car that is nicer than what I need.  I eat more food than I need.  I have satellite TV with more channels than I need.  I spend more time being entertained than I need.  And what’s worse is that I am reluctant to give any of that up.  In the end, am I any different than the rich young man?

Yes, in the end I do think that I am no different than the Jewish leaders who miss the importance of the inclusion of Gentiles in this passage from 1 Kings 5.  I miss the implementation of some of the most important theological teachings myself.  So I cannot stand in judgment of them.

But I can see my faults and confess them.  I can see the importance of God using Gentiles and Jews to bring about His kingdom.  I can see the need for God to call out to sinners and call them home while knowing their imperfections even before He called them.  I think all of these lessons are good ones to take from this story in 1 Kings.  We don’t know everything, and we should be open to the moving of the Holy Spirit especially when the moving of the Holy Spirit takes a path different than we would initially anticipate. 

It was okay for Gentiles to help in the construction of the Temple.  It’s okay for me to give up my luxurious life and adopt a life of humble service to God.  It’s okay to abandon the expectations of the world and its leaders in order to embrace the greater expectations of God.

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Year 1, Day 345: 1 Kings 4

Results of Having a King

Today as I was reading one of my favorite commentaries on this passage I paused to look up a reference that I had never connected with this passage: 1 Samuel 8:10-18.  As I looked at that passage, I had to remind myself that the passage from 1 Samuel was a warning about what a king would do to the Hebrew people.  God gives the Hebrew people a warning that a king was going to demand supplies, wealth, military service, servanthood, the choice fields, and a bunch of other things.  Boy do we find that true in today’s passage regarding Solomon!

How many charioteers did Solomon have?  How much food did his household require on a daily basis?  How much land did he control?  God’s warning – and let’s remember that it was a warning and not a blessing – certainly came true!

I find this interesting as I reflect back upon the blog post I made yesterday, cracking the door to the great conversation I’ve had in the comments section about “falling away from God.”  Here in this passage we see the first of many fulfillments of God’s warning, and it is Solomon when it comes first.  {For the record, I won’t spend much time on this point but keep in mind this is only the Hebrew people’s third king.  It didn’t take long, that’s for sure!}  God warns that the king will dominate over them and think primarily of themselves and their needs first; and we see it here in Solomon.

I’m going to reflect back for a moment on the stories of David.  I understand that David was a “military general” type king and Solomon is a “wise sage” type king, but I do find it interesting that under David we find none of these passages about the demands David put onto the kingdom.  I know David must have received supplies and he certainly must have placed a burden on the land.  But we just don’t hear about it recorded anywhere.  Yet, we’re only into the third full chapter on Solomon and already here we go with the list of burdens.  It leads credence to my ponderings yesterday that Solomon may not have been the great king-leader that we make him out to be.  Perhaps I am guilty in the past of superimposing too much of David onto his boy.

Furthermore, as we read about his household, notice in 1 Kings 4:20 that we hear the people are eating, drinking, and merry-making.  {I had to chuckle because I cannot combine those three in my head without also subconsciously adding the words “for tomorrow we die.”}  We don’t hear about a hunger, thirst, or enjoyment for the Law of the Lord or even the ways of the Lord.  We hear a blessed enjoyment of God’s material provision.  While it is possible for some to enjoy both spiritual and material prosperity {See Abraham as an example} it is certainly not the norm.  I think in this verse we hear an echo of the coming fall of the kingdom.  The Law of the Lord and His ways are taking a second place or worse to the eating, drinking, and merry-making.

Solomon’s Downfall Begins

Furthermore, we hear about Solomon’s chariots and horsemen.  We are told about the fact that Solomon got his horses from Egypt (1 Kings 10:26-29).  Compare this fact with Deuteronomy 17:16 and reconcile what is really being said about Solomon in this passage – remembering of course that earlier we have been told that Solomon took a wife from Egypt, probably as a part of a political alliance.  While you are open to Deuteronomy 17, read the next verse as well and reconcile it with Solomon.  It is almost as though we look back upon those verses and feel as though they were written specifically for the case of Solomon and his fall.  Clearly the author of 1 Kings is intending for us to recognize that the problems with Solomon’s reign began from the beginning.

I’m going to make one more comparison before finishing today.  Given the daily demands for Solomon’s household, the cabinet he establishes for government, the military he assembles, and all the other parts of this passage I am struck by the fact that I could summarize it all up in one statement: Solomon established one monster of a bureaucracy.  For those readers who are American, it would seem that our current governmental leaders for the past decade or two have much in common with Solomon.  This is a good time to remind everyone that historically speaking when the bureaucracy outgrows the ability of the base to support it – the system topples.  It is one of the main reasons the Mongolian Empire failed.  It is the main reason Rome failed.  It is why the British Empire declined.  And it most certainly is one of the reasons that the Hebrew kingdom splits immediately after Solomon gets out of power.

The more I look at Solomon, the more I find he has in common with the ways of the world.  I find myself sad today, because I was hoping to be wrong about the comments I made yesterday regarding Solomon.  But after reading this passage and the apparent thrust of the author of 1 Kings, I think all the more that I was correct.  Solomon was figuring out whether to lead according to the world or whether to lead according to the ways of God.  Slowly and surely he was pulled more and more to the world’s side.

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Year 1, Day 344: 1 Kings 3

DISCLAIMER: I’m going to take a radical and contrary approach to this passage – at least compared to traditional thought.  I’m going out on a limb here, and I confess it up front and openly.  If you don’t like straying from traditional thought, this might not be the blog post for you to read this morning.

How We talk About Solomon

I think we should be really careful talking about Solomon as someone who “loved the Lord” at the beginning and then fell away.  And yes, that is a moment of confession for me.  Because I am often one of those people who is guilty of speaking of Solomon as having it all right in the beginning and losing it in the end. 

Functionally, I think we need to be careful about this teaching because I think it leads to dangerous thoughts.  It leads to the possibility that a person can know God fully and then end up losing touch with God in the end.  I don’t personally think that is possible.  I don’t honestly believe that anyone who truly knows God, who has truly been touched by His Spirit, and who has truly dedicated themselves to God ever falls away from God.  Yes, people fall in and out of sin all the time.  And yes, there are many people who are outwardly righteous who seem to fall away from God.  But I honestly don’t think someone who truly is in communion with God ever falls out of communion with God.  Yet when we teach that Solomon was truly in a relationship with God and then we get to the end of the story; well, that’s what we end up preaching is that we can completely fall out of a relationship with God after knowing its fullness.

Rather, I think the healthier perspective is to see Solomon’s life as a pursuit of choosing between God and the world.  Solomon never really fully commits to God.  He does great things for God, but God’s righteousness is not where he is fully committed.  Solomon spends most of his life trying to figure out if he will devote himself to God or not.  And unfortunately, we know where he ends up once he has actually made up his choice. 

For the record, I think that this is true about all of us.  I think many of us spend a great deal of our life trying to decide whether or not we really are sold out for God.  We may appear to be sold out on the outside … but inside the struggle rages.

A Deeper Look at Solomon

Let me explain a little about why I think we should be cautious about Solomon’s true faithfulness here.  And please, don’t anyone read that I am judging Solomon.  That’s God’s place, not mine.  I just want to challenge us today about true faith.  What happened between Solomon and God is ultimately up for God to decide. 

First, let’s look carefully at what is said about Solomon. 

• It says that Solomon loved the Lord.  Now, this word love is the Hebrew word “aheb.”  Its uses are as wide and varied as the English word “love.”  It certainly can mean a deep relational connection.  But it can also mean an internal desire, a brotherly affection, a kinship, a friendship, etc.  It is a word that is hard to nail down. 
• We also know that Solomon walked in the statues of God.  However, even before this is said we know that the author began this story by asserting Solomon’s marriage to an Egyptian.  This was a political marriage – and as we will see it is the beginning of Solomon clearly not walking in the statutes of God with respect to marriage. 
• Then, we see that the text makes it clear that Solomon worshipped at the high places rather than the tabernacle.  It seems that Solomon would respect neither the marital commands of the Lord nor the commands for worship.  I’m not saying that Solomon didn’t love the Lord.  But I am saying that we should see Solomon realistically.  Solomon’s love for God was flawed and full of areas where Solomon preferred his own methods rather than the Lord’s ways.  Solomon was in the process of choosing how much he was willing to give to the Lord out of his life.

Second, we often think that the Lord’s gift to Solomon was a blessing for Solomon’s faithfulness. 

• If we are careful to read the text in 1 Kings 3 I don’t think we can make that case at all.  God comes to Solomon with a simple proposition.  God simply wants to bestow a gift upon Solomon.  Certainly Solomon’s desire pleases the Lord, and the Lord ends up being quite generous to Solomon.  Solomon not only becomes wise, but he becomes wealthy and popular.  But, let’s stop and think for a moment.  Are these things truly gifts from God?  Or are these tools God uses to reveal Solomon’s true nature?  Look at Solomon’s wisdom as written in the book of Ecclesiastes.  Does that book sound like a man who is content with a life full of wisdom?  Does Solomon’s popularity have anything to do with the vast harem he collects – and that through his harem he is eventually turned away from God to worship foreign Gods?  Had Solomon not been popular, would his heart have had access to be turned away as greatly?  Does Solomon’s wealth play any part in women wishing to be his wife and having sway over him and his influence?  You see, God is indeed generous, but I think we can make a case here that Solomon is not receiving a blessing as much as he is receiving a test.  Solomon is not being granted a blessing out of his faithfulness as much as God is desiring to know Solomon’s character – and more importantly, to reveal Solomon’s character to Solomon.

Third, we must take heed to God’s own words. 

• God says to Solomon, “If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked…”  God tells us that the book is not yet written on Solomon’s righteousness.  God does not look at Solomon here as someone who should receive the rubber stamp of “faithful” or “righteous.”  God knows that a person is not judged in the beginning when things are easy but in the end when we can look backwards over our life and see how we handled success and difficulty.  Since God does not give Solomon the rubber stamp of approval, I think we should be careful to not do so as well.

The Book on Solomon

I think Solomon is a person who was taught the right things to say.  I think Solomon learned “how to play the game” from his father.  I think Solomon knew how to give all the appearances of being righteous.  But I will not be so quick to give him the label of being righteous. 

For the record, I expect to be treated the same.  Do not give me the label of righteous, either, until my years have played out and we can see the fruit of my life – whether it is pleasing to God or not!  Solomon had a great set-up and was certainly primed to have a great rule as king.  But I do wonder how much of it was genuine, especially since I know how the story ends. 

Solomon’s Wise Decision

To close, I will look very briefly at the story of the prostitute’s child and the wisdom of Solomon.  I personally find this story very intriguing and as much as I hate to say it I can see it happening.  Here we have the true love of a parent – willing to let love go so that life can continue.  We also have the ugliness of jealousy – willing to watch something be destroyed so nobody can partake of a good thing.  We have the pettiness of humanity – willing to stoop to unrighteousness to get one’s way.  We have self-mongerism – a willingness to want for oneself without thinking about other people, especially the child.  We have the willingness to lie – to simply speak untruth for the benefit of one’s own agenda.  All of these things are present in this story, and all of them are used in ways that I readily see them occur in the humanity around me!

Solomon does give a wise approach to the problem.  Solomon endeavors to find a way to bring out the true depth of passion for the child without letting the women know that he is doing so.  Once he finds out which one is more genuinely passionate, Solomon knows the route to take.  For me I think that is the brilliance in this story.  When making a decision, a person’s inner passion really tells a lot about who they are and what they will do.

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