fully committed

After Solomon completed the temple and dedicated it with offerings and prayer, he had this to say to the people, from 1 Kings 8:56-61:

“‘Praise be to the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses. May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us nor forsake us. May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in obedience to him and keep the commands, decrees and laws he gave our ancestors. And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day’s need, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God and that there is no other. And may your hearts be fully committed to the LORD our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.’”

I like this statement, for the people and for myself, because it connects God’s goodness to the commitment we should all make in response. Not one word of what God promised, Solomon reminds us, failed to come to pass. Think of that! Think of all the promises in scripture – they’re facts, not hopes.

It’s only reasonable, then, that I should want to follow Solomon’s encouragement to be fully committed to the Lord and to live by his decrees and obey his commands. And I do want that. So why is it so hard?

Solomon recognized something else, though: he knew I couldn’t do this, and his people couldn’t. So his wish, his prayer for his kingdom is also found in these verses. He asked that God would help the people walk in obedience and keep God’s commands.

There are a lot of famous speeches that I had to learn about. I wonder why this isn’t one of them? It seems to me to capture the Christian faith walk very succinctly.