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Aug 25, 2006

Seriously Faithful


I had a wonderful time studying David's life, and the way he "clung" to God it'll be difficult to continue with the Word of God without mentioning him. More than that this man leaves lasting impressions in the lives of people who come after him. I have now moved on to the Book of 1st Kings and I am amazed at the faithfulness that God is showing, to the promises He had made to David.

David has now passed away and Solomon has taken David's place. He has a done a good job of building the temple, asking the right thing, wisdom to rule God's people. However in the long run, Solomon fails to remain faithful to God. The Bible says in 1 Kings 11 that Solomon had a weakness for women and because of this, "4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been."(1 Kings 11:4) So much so that "9 The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD's command." (1 Kings 11:9-10). Though God could have removed Solomon from the throne immediately, as he did Saul, God does not remove Solomon and you know why? The Bible says "11 So the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. 12 Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen." God did not remove Solomon for the sake of David’s faithfulness. Later on Ahijah the prophet met Jeroboam ( a man faithful to his duties, though he rebelled against Solomon) “and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. 31 Then he said to Jeroboam, "Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon's hand and give you ten tribes. 32 But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have one tribe. 33 I will do this because they have [d] forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molech the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in my ways, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my statutes and laws as David, Solomon's father, did.” Then Ahijah continued saying “34 " 'But I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon's hand; I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose and who observed my commands and statutes. 35 I will take the kingdom from his son's hands and give you ten tribes. 36 I will give one tribe to his son so that David my servant may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my Name. 37 However, as for you, I will take you, and you will rule over all that your heart desires; you will be king over Israel. 38 If you do whatever I command you and walk in my ways and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you. 39 I will humble David's descendants because of this, but not forever.' "

God talked about David so many times, and kept reminding his descendants how faithful David was and that He would do everything for the sake of the promise God had made to David.

Lessons I learnt

  1. Faithfulness to God goes a long way-David’s faithfulness to God sowed the seed for his children’s lives. Our God is a God who remembers His promises to His children from generations to generations, kept David in mind and dealt with them keeping David in mind. Our faith is more powerful than we can imagine. It goes beyond our lives, right upto the lives of our children and our children’s children.
  2. Does God really have to bribe us to follow him?-Another big lesson I learnt from David’s life is that, David was not asking God for more money, more kingdoms, more people, more followers etc. All I remember from his life is, he did what he was asked to do. Even when he had to go for battle he would ask God if he should go for it or not. David just followed God. When he fumbled or made a mistake, he asked for forgiveness and went right back on track after God. Doesn’t the Word of God say in Matthew 6:33 "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." I guess this is the biggest lesson I learnt from David’s life. David followed God and God blessed him in whatever he did. Isn’t that the same thing that happened to Joseph, though he went through trials and slavery and punishment for someone else’s fault, God blessed him in whatever he did and finally he came out a winner and all things were added unto him. When Abraham decided to follow God and trust him, he left Ur and later on we see he became rich and famous, just because he had faith in God.

    Conclusion-There are two very important lessons I learnt from this, how important our faith and faithfulness is, not only to us but also to our children. The other important thought I was thinking is, if a father had to pay his son or daughter to spend time with him, how cruel that would be. How sad that situation would be. Isn’t that the kind of attitude we’ve got for God today. Going to Him (our Father in heaven) only in time of need and in times of trouble and when we want something. It is true that God is our help in times of trouble, but then what about when the times are good, what’s our relationship with our Living Father then?? Let’s look at our relationship with our Lord very closely and see what our real attitude is towards our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Do we keep looking at God’s hand for all the things we can get or do we want to see His face and enjoy being His children, obedient in bringing a smile upon His face?

1 comment :

audrey` said...

In good times and challenging moments, let us continue to praise and trust our Lord :)