Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 9-10.

I have been trying to link my thoughts about God’s answer to Solomon’s prayer dedicating the Temple and my thoughts about the visit from the Queen of Sheba without much luck.  God told Solomon that He had consecrated the Temple by putting His name there forever.  While God told Solomon that He would always see and care about what happened at the Temple Solomon had built (and by extension all of Jerusalem), He also warned about what would happen should the people of Israel fail to keep God’s commands.  In my mind we see a fulfillment of both parts of God’s promise to Solomon in the existence of the Western Wall in Jerusalem.  The fact that the Western Wall still exists reminds us that God still cares about Jerusalem, its people, and the Israelite people.  But it also reminds us that, for all of their special status with God, were unable to remain faithful to Him.  Some people see this as a reason to hold the Jewish people in contempt, but they are seriously misunderstanding God’s point.  If the Jewish people suffered such devastation for disobeying God’s commands, how can we who do not hold such a place in God’s heart think that we can escape punishment for our sins?  Of course, when we think on this we should remember what Jesus said to His disciples, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”  So, let us not think that we are better than the Israelites who failed to keep their side of God’s covenant and think that we can do better, but also let us pray to God and trust His ability to help us, even to cause us, to do His will each and every day.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.