1 Kings 9: Choosing for God

Introduction:

When you woke up this morning, or every morning this week, did you consecrate yourselves to God? Did you remember that God has bought you at a price, that He is your Father and Lord, that you are here to fulfil His purposes? Did you remember that you are a sinner that battles a sinful heart, and look to God for the strength He provides so that you can do your duty? On our good days we recommit ourselves as living sacrifices to God. On a bad day we just drift into out duties out of habit and without deliberation, on our worst days we sin big. When we are starting off on the Christian journey we are keen and energetic. When we come to the end of the Christian road we are expectant, contemplative and aware. It is the middle part, with the regular passing of miles beneath us that there is a danger of falling asleep at the wheel.

Solomon is in the middle of his reign, He has just finished a major accomplishment in building the temple. God mercifully comes to him after this victory when he might be tempted to rest on his laurels and live in the glow of past accomplishments and reminds him of his duties. This chapter has two parts to it, the first part is God appearing to Solomon calling him to faithfulness and warning him of the consequences of unfaithfulness. And the second part is a summary of events in Solomon’s reign, some of the lessor highlights. This chapter is very useful to us because it presents a busy life full of activity, but the emphasis is on our walk with the Lord. In the middle parts busyness can often be mistaken for faithfulness. This chapter points out that Solomon ought to be faithful and then asks us to view his activity to test whether he listened to God when he appeared to him. You are I are not kingdom builders like Solomon, our lives are ordinary and pedestrian compared. But we fight in the same spiritual battle that he did fighting against sin within and satan without to honour and serve God. Let us evaluate this section testing ourselves to see how we are doing in the middle busy part of our journey.