Joel M Bradshaw

4“As for you [Solomon], if you walk before me [God] faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, 5I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.”–1 Kings 9

1. God personally responded to King Solomon after the dedication of the Temple. This was the second time. The first time, you might recall, God allowed Solomon to famously ask for a gift.
2. God gave Solomon an if/then proposition.
3. Students of the Old Testament will recognize that David would go on to be the “gold standard” for obedience with the kings. Either they were like David or they were not.
4. David, of course, sinned mightily. But he owned his sins with a contrite heart and repented of them with God. This set him apart as different from an excuse-maker like Saul.
5. Solomon had a bright future ahead of him.
6. Would he be more like David or more like selfish Saul? What would be Solomon’s legacy of faith and faithfulness?
7. It’s always a good time to have a heart-check regarding how you live. What are your priorities? Every biblical counseling client I have has to face a verse like 1 Corinthians 10:31 and has to ask themselves if they are doing all for the glory of God. What things need to start in your life and what needs to stop? I have to ask these of myself on a regular basis.–JMB