Jesus taught us to pray that His kingdom would come. We also know that God's kingdom is here now in people who have been called according to His purposes.
The more we know about God, the more we love God. Worship is the natural flow that comes from our gratitude to God for His grace to us.
Sunday we were in a series called "Kings and Kingdoms", looking at a particular time in Israel's history that was a thousand years before Christ.
The treasured truth that I came away with Sunday was just an increased appreciation for the way God chooses to bless His people. God promised from the very beginning (Genesis 12:3) that He would bless all the families of the earth through Abraham. How? All would be blessed through Abraham's descendant, the Godman Jesus.
This stuns me because I kept the Lord at arms length for thirty years...yet He chose to reveal Himself to me. We are an unworthy people who depend on God's goodness for every breath just as the lives of the three kings illustrate.
SAUL. This man was literally head and shoulders above others, handsome and rich. Such a resumé convinced the people that he would make a good king, so they threw off their theocracy of God's rule, and clamored "give us a king like the other nations".
Saul may have been tall, dark and handsome...but he was also moody, jealous, vengeful, and half-hearted toward God. Saul flat-out disobeyed God's instructions about his military victory over Amelek.
God gave Saul some victories over the Philistines, but his disobedience cost him the crown. Saul died by falling on his own sword on a Philistine battlefield. Scripture says he died because he did not keep the Word of the Lord...and then the Lord gave the nation to David.
DAVID. David had a better end than Saul. David died an old man in his bed after passing instructions to his son Solomon about following the Lord.
But wouldn't it be awful if the whole world knew our sins as we all know David's sins? David committed adultery and was responsible for the death of Bathsheba's husband, Uriah...yet the Lord commends David as a man after His own heart.David sinned big but repented big...proving the breadth of God's forgiveness. The Lord can use us if we maintain a humble heart.
Israel flourished under this warrior king with many battlefield victories. Under King David, new territory was added to Israel and the tribes were united as never before. But his shiny credit was that he followed the Lord, resulting in a rich legacy. God said one day when Jesus came, He would sit on David's throne in Jerusalem.
SOLOMON. Solomon is unique in many ways, but one thing Scripture says is that God came to Solomon in a dream three times. In the first dream, God allowed Solomon to ask for whatever he wanted.
When Solomon asked for wisdom, God answered that request lavishly because Solomon wrote 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs (poems). His wisdom caused King Solomon to be known and sought by people across the Middle East and Africa.
Although Solomon did not ask for wealth, God also gave him untold riches in order to build a house for God.
The second time God came to Solomon in a dream, it was after the temple dedication when God promised He would turn His face and heart toward the temple forever. Then God gave Solomon a conditional promise that IF Solomon would walk before Him in integrity of heart and uprightness, God would establish Solomon's throne over Israel forever.
WAS Solomon faithful to God?
As a security measure in those days, kings took "alliance wives" from the royalty of foreign countries. (It wasn't likely that foreign kings would attack the country where their daughters lived.) Instead of trusting God for Israel's safety, Solomon bought into that practice. In doing so, Solomon acted against God's plan for marriage and against God's law about not taking foreign wives. Father knows best.
Pharaoh's daughter and women from the Hittites and Moabites, etc. were some of the 700 wives Solomon took and he also took 300 concubines. Over time, this "wise" man permitted the foreign wives to build altars in Israel to worship their gods. Then Solomon did the unthinkable and joined them in the worship of these gods, even offering child sacrifices to Molech. What an abomination to God!
THE VIEW FROM ABOVE. God had plenty of room to take offense during the United Monarchy. Still, He chose to bless His people by giving peace and prosperity that Israel only consistently experienced during those hundred years.
Both the people and the kings knew the blessing was from God. The people knew their goodness didn't deserve it. After all, THEY had rejected God by asking for a king. Saul, David, and Solomon knew the blessing was from God because THEY had dishonored God and hindered the fullness of what God had for them.
God alone is good. His loving-kindness is toward His people and His sovereign choice is to bless them because of His kind determination to keep His Genesis promise. And what is our response? Those who know blessing comes from God's hand...WORSHIP! That's what we were created to do.
And then we tell others of His kindness.
And then we tell others of His kindness.
