Day Twenty-Five -- A kingdom torn apart
1 Kings 7:38 to 1 Kings 16:20
The promises of God and the hopes of David are firmly in the hands of Solomon as he completes the construction of the Temple. After having placed the ark in the Holy of Holies, Solomon offers a resounding prayer on behalf of the people, imploring the LORD that when the people turn back from their sins to "hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive." All seems well for the moment, but even Solomon can't refrain from continually mistreating the people with forced labor and dishonoring the LORD to appease his foreign wives. When his son Rehoboam succeeds him as king he only makes matters worse for the people, leading all the tribes except Judah to get themselves another king, Jeroboam, who only exasperates the situation further. The rest of today's reading (with a short respite under king Asa of Judah) is a story of spiraling decline and warfare as the people of all the tribes pretty much lose any sense of their relationship with the LORD.
Is there a word here today for the Church and its people? Do we build ourselves up at the expense of others and our relationship with God? Are we following the LORD or only our own desires? And what part does the need for power and control play in our decisions?
The promises of God and the hopes of David are firmly in the hands of Solomon as he completes the construction of the Temple. After having placed the ark in the Holy of Holies, Solomon offers a resounding prayer on behalf of the people, imploring the LORD that when the people turn back from their sins to "hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive." All seems well for the moment, but even Solomon can't refrain from continually mistreating the people with forced labor and dishonoring the LORD to appease his foreign wives. When his son Rehoboam succeeds him as king he only makes matters worse for the people, leading all the tribes except Judah to get themselves another king, Jeroboam, who only exasperates the situation further. The rest of today's reading (with a short respite under king Asa of Judah) is a story of spiraling decline and warfare as the people of all the tribes pretty much lose any sense of their relationship with the LORD.
Is there a word here today for the Church and its people? Do we build ourselves up at the expense of others and our relationship with God? Are we following the LORD or only our own desires? And what part does the need for power and control play in our decisions?
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