Thought from today’s Bible reading from 1 Kings 9; 2 Chronicles 8.
After Solomon completed his house and the Lord’s house, God appeared to him and restated His conditional promise to the king.
“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’” (1 Kings 9:4-5).
However, though God was willing to bless Solomon for obedience, He was also willing to punish him for disobedience.
“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 hiss and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ And they will say, ‘Because they forsook the Lord their God…’” (1 Kings 9:6-9).
We see rewards for obedience and punishment for disobedience. Notice that there is no middle ground. They would either obey God or not. God would either bless them or not. Those were the only two options.
The same two options are before us today. We can either obey God or not. If we obey, we will be saved (Hebrews 5:9). If we do not obey, we will be lost (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). There is no middle ground!
Let us not be fooled into thinking that we can ignore God’s instructions and still be saved. Jesus asked, “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46). He also said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter” (Matthew 7:21). If you want to receive God’s reward, you must obey Him.
Tomorrow’s reading: Proverbs 25-26
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.
