II Chronicles 7-9
Fire from heaven to burn the offering, and God’s glory so strong that people could not enter the temple. That’s the way we start these chapters. All the sons of Israel are so overwhelmed with God’s goodness that they bow down on the pavement with their faces to the ground.
Days and days of sacrifices and worship. It has taken twenty years to build this temple, and this glorious celebration is greater than any ever in the history of Israel.
So we proceed with Solomon’s spectacular reign – his wisdom and his wealth. Again we see the account of the queen of Sheba coming to see for herself and being star-struck when she meets Solomon in person.
Yet at the end of these chapters, we see Solomon dying in total failure as he is succeeded by son, Rehoboam.
This version of the history leaves out a few of the dirty little secrets, but we can read between the lines, because we have already read the I Kings account.
Solomon, because of his tremendous wealth and wisdom, got the big head, and added many foreign wives to his collection of “things.” And in doing so, he built altars to every kind of god imaginable, and even turned to them himself on occasion.
Solomon had been warned, but he didn’t heed the warnings. Instead, he seemed to turn a deaf ear to his younger, holier voice as he aged. This king eventually turned away from God.
I Kings 11:6 says,” and Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord …” Don’t you find that hard to imagine? I do!
God’s beautiful land, which had seen His glory and literal presence so that the priests could not stand, was about to be divided.
There is a covenant which we have with our God – just as Solomon did. (Actually ours is better, because Jesus has already come). That covenant promises us blessings in abundance – protection, provision, and health for ourselves and our families. Yet it is conditional.
The conditional part is that we, as His covenant people, promise to be faithful to Him. We promise to love Him with our whole hearts, and to love others as ourselves.
If we do our part, He will always do His. Our God is faithful to His Word and will never let us down.
Oh, Lord, keep us close to You. We love you.
John 11:1-44
“Lazarus, come forth.” Jesus, with a loud voice shattered the wall between death and life, and the dead man arose. He had been dead for four days, and everyone considered this over, but our Savior showed them something different.
Everyone had seen Jesus heal the sick, so they believed that he could heal Lazarus if He would just hurry to the scene. However, Jesus tarried, staying two days longer after He had heard the report.
Mary and Martha were upset with Him “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Each of them challenged the Lord upon His appearance.
However, Jesus was not moved at all. He knew God’s plan and His power – and He knew that Lazarus would rise up to the glory of God. In fact this was one more way of showing how great our God is.
Have you ever been praying for something which you knew was God’s will, but it just doesn’t seem to come about?
Don’t give up. If you know that it is God’s will; if it’s a promise that you have seen in His Word, don’t give up.
I have seen turn-arounds occur in the lives of certain people that almost shocked me. Sometimes they would be people that I would be praying for and it seemed that nothing ever changed. Then suddenly.
Oh, I love that Word when we are talking about our God. Suddenly.
He can suddenly cause things to click in a way that surpasses your imagination. He is God and He can do it.
Our part is to be true to Him, to pray and not faint, and to expect great things when we pray.
It’s an exciting life when we live it with Jesus.
