Don’t we hate it when we can’t get something for free? The upgrade to our cable service is wonderful, although it comes with a higher price tag. We’re offered First Class on our favorite airline, if we’ll give up the miles we’ve earned. That amazing promotion at the office not only means more money, but also more time spent to fulfill the company’s needs.
Why don’t good things just happen to us with no strings attached, like the Lottery? Oh, right. Even there we have to pay taxes, often as much as 50%.
Should it have been any surprise that God put a condition on his promise to David to make his son Solomon the next king of Israel?
1 Chronicles 28:7 says:
“Moreover I will establish [Solomon’s] kingdom for ever, if he be constant to do my commandments and my judgments, as at this day.”
Solomon became the greatest king of antiquity. Even secular scholars marvel at his name today. Film makers who want nothing to do with real religion craft films around his successes. Solomon was a mover and a shaker for God’s people. Yet God was very clear: Solomon would know success only “if he be constant [constantly aware of and adhering to] my commandments and my judgments, as [he is doing at this time].”
And the modern church thinks God owes us mansions, fine cars, and large bank accounts. If we fail God, well, we’re “human,” and God shouldn’t hold that against us. He should allow for our “individuality” and move on to more important matters, like better cable service, First Class seating, and a better position at our company that will give us more money but not require us to work extra hours. That’s the God we serve.
Except it wasn’t the God that installed Solomon on Israel’s throne. That God placed Solomon as the head of Israel, only if he continued to faithfully follow after God and keep his commandments unto the end of his days.
The next time we complain that God hasn’t kept his promises, we need to ask ourselves the other side of the question. Have we kept up our end of the bargain? Salvation goes two ways. God forgives, and we have to live up to his standards. Even kings can’t get away from that.
When we do what God expects, we’ll receive what God has promised.
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Code: FGO.E.01.16c.vp.kjv