Mark these Key Words: Solomon, God
1 Kings 2:1-4
“As David’s time to die drew near, he charged Solomon his son, saying, “I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man. Keep the charge of the Lord your God, to walk in His way, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the Law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn.”
When you hear David say to Solomon, “Show yourself as a man” – what does that say to you?
How does David’s exhortation truly speak to you?
1 Kings 3:5, 9-14
“In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, “Ask what you wish Me to give you.”
So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours? It was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice, behold I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days. If you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and commandments, as your father David walked, then I will prolong your days.”
If God asked you for any wishful prayer, for what would you pray?
Why is Solomon’s prayer for wisdom (discernment) such a great prayer?
1 Kings 6:21
“So Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold. And he drew chains of gold across the front of the inner sanctuary, and he overlaid it with gold.”
When you hear how beautiful and expensive Solomon’s temple for the Lord was, what does this say to you about your body being the temple of the Holy Spirit?
1 Kings 8:6 & 7
“Then the priests bought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim. For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim made a covering over the ark and its poles from above.”
Hebrews 8:10
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
The Ark of the Covenant was the laws of God. What is God saying in Hebrews 8 about the placement of God’s laws?
If God so carefully protected His law in the Old Testament temple, how does the Under Armour slogan “Protect this house” relate to you?
1 Kings 9:4-9
“As for you, if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you and will keep My statutes and My ordinances, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I promised to your father David, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’
“But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the Land which I have given them, and the house which I have consecrated for My name, I will cast out of My sight. So Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. And this house will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by will be astonished and his and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land to this house?’ And they will say, ‘because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the Land of Egypt, and adopted other gods and worshipped them and served them, therefore the Lord has brought all this adversity on them.”
What does this warning say to you?
1 Kings 11:1, 2 & 6
“Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the sons of Israel, ‘You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away from their gods.’ Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not follow the Lord fully, as David his father had done.”
How do you respond to the example of Solomon?
APPLICATION:
How do these passages relate to me today? What changes does it bring to my life?
LOCKER ROOM:
What has God been telling you to do? How was God trying to get your attention this week?
MEMORY VERSE:
Hebrews 8:10
“I will put my laws into their minds and I will write them on their hearts.”
MY PRAYER
Adoration: Father, today I praise You for…
Confession: Father, please forgive me for…
Thanksgiving: Father, today I’m thankful for…
Supplication: Father, the people and things that I wish to pray for today are…
