Readings for today: 1 Kings 9, 2 Chronicles 8, Proverbs 25-26
There comes a point in time in all relationships where you have to sit down and define the boundaries. You have to talk through expectations and conditions and terms. You have to spell out what is in bounds and what is out of bounds. My wife and I went out on our first date on November 9th, 1993. We talked for hours at a 24 hour diner over coffee. We shared testimonies. We shared our hopes and dreams for the future. We had instant chemistry and connection. As we were driving home, I felt it necessary to clarify some things. I told Kristi we should date for six weeks and then re-evaluate to see how we were feeling. If we felt like things were going well, we’d get serious. If not, we’d part ways. To show you what kind of fool I was at the time, I actually said to her, “If we part ways, let’s not try to be friends. I have enough friends.” Can you imagine? Thankfully, Kristi was already learning to tune me out! Ha! One week later, I fell in love with her and the rest is history. So much for my grand plan!
As I mentioned above, all relationships need definition. All relationships need boundaries if they are to thrive. This includes our relationship with God. Listen again to how He defines things for Solomon. “I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought all this disaster on them.” (1 Kings 9:3-9) God leaves nothing to the imagination. He is very clear with Solomon. Walk faithfully and you will be blessed. Walk unfaithfully and you will be cursed. These are the conditions of the covenant God first made with his father, David. And tragically, Solomon fails to live up to them. The result is national division and civil war.
What about us? We live under the “new covenant” established in Christ’s blood. The relationship we have with God is decidedly one-sided. He sets the conditions but He also bears the consequences. He too wants us to walk in faithfulness but He has chosen never to reject us even when we are unfaithful. Instead, He takes the punishment we deserve. He accepts the wages of our sin. Therefore, instead of “everyone passing by” being astonished at our ruin, they gaze upon the Crucified One in astonishment at His great love. Does this mean we get to live without boundaries? Does this mean we can ignore His expectations? Dismiss His commands? Absolutely not. There are natural consequences for sin that we must bear. There are natural repercussions for sin that ripple out to those around us. God will never break His promise to us. He will never abandon His covenant with His people. He will never walk out on the relationship but He will – in His steadfast lovingkindness and patience – bear with us when we suffer for our transgressions. Do not take God’s love for granted. Do not presume upon His grace. Heed the warning He gives to King Solomon and commit your way to Him.
Readings for tomorrow: None