Find your way to First Kings, chapter 9.
What we’re going to read about is God’s second appearance to Solomon.
When I think about Solomon’s life, I tend to remember his apostasy most prominently, and that is probably fair, but here he had just completed the construction of the temple, they had dedicated it with an incredible worship service where the brought in the Ark of the Covenant and Solomon gave this great speech and had an incredible time of prayer. That’s the lead up to chapter 9. So what we’re seeing here is a man who was in a vibrant, spiritual relationship with God.
Now, this passage is definitely covenantal, in the sense that there are some specific promises and regulations given from God for Solomon and Israel, but there are definitely some parallels and devotional principles for us as we each pursue a vibrant, Spirit-filled relationship with the Lord.
So, let’s look at our text and see what we see.
1 Kings 9.1-5 – And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he wanted to do, that the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. And the Lord said to him: “I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built to put My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. Now if you walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’
We’re going to look at Solomon in a little bit, but the real focus here is God as He reveals His plan and His heart for His children. What we find is a wonderful God with a wonderful plan.
Read verse 2 again where it says:
1 Kings 9.2 – …the Lord appeared to Solomon [a] second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.
God loves to interact with us. That’s what He’s always wanted in His relationship with mankind. And He’s a talker! He’s always speaking and whispering and talking to those who have ears to hear.
If you’re a Christian but you feel as though you’re in a period of silence in your relationship with Christ right now, that’s a sign that there’s something wrong. When we feel disconnection from God it’s because there’s some kink or break on our end, not His.
Proverbs 8.17 – I love those who love Me, and those who seek me diligently will find Me.
God is on record as being near and accessible for us because He desires to encourage us with His presence. Individually, together as the Church, even for nations who will seek Him. He comes and encourages us with His presence, which brings rest and peace and satisfaction. The Bible says that His presence is goodness. And God’s desire is to always be present with us, and encouraging us with that presence. This morning in the men’s study we got to the passage where Moses strikes the rock and water comes out. The New Testament points out that this rock followed them around wherever they went in the wilderness. And that rock is Christ. He never hides away from us and He is not inanimate. In the Bible, when people tried to hide away from God they couldn’t. The Psalmist says, “I can’t go into the sky, I can’t go into the ocean, I can’t go down to Hades. You’re there!” Jonah tried hard to get away from God’s presence because he was in sin. But for those who follow the Lord, He is ever attending, desiring to encourage us with the rest and joy and satisfaction of His presence.
1 Kings 9.3a – The Lord said to him: “I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before Me.”
Here the Lord encouraged Solomon that his prayers were heard. God was mindful of his words and supplications.
The Bible explains to us very plainly that God listens. He hears us. His ears are open to His people. He has opened a line of communication for us that is continually and immediately accessible.
Verse 3 continues:
1 Kings 9.3b – “I have consecrated this house which you have built to put My name there forever”
The Lord encouraged Solomon that He had a special plan of consecration for this temple.
I hope everyone here tonight understands that God has crafted a special, consecrated plan for your life. You are His temple. And He has specific purposes and opportunities for you. We’re all being built together as the Church, and there are common fruits being grown in our lives, but the opportunities and tasks that you will be called upon by God to complete are unique to you. You’ve been hand-picked to love and serve and speak to certain groups of people. You’re not just another cog in a machine, you’re an ambassador that has been carefully selected and appointed for the task at hand.
The differences between a cog and an ambassador are obviously huge, but one key difference is that a cog is just put in place and turns despite what it might want to do. An ambassador must be willing to serve and represent the King. God has great plans for us, but we must also be willing vessels.
Verse 3 closes out by saying:
1 Kings 9.3c – …and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.
The Lord encouraged Solomon by showing him His heart. This wasn’t just a sterile, religious arrangement. This was something personal and tender.
A lot of doctrinal and theological mistakes are made when we forget to consider the heart of God as revealed in Scripture. Our God is a God who loves and romances.
The New Living Translation has the verse this way: “I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart.”
That’s your life in the eyes of God. You are the beloved focus of His attention. You are the pearl of great price. You’re the thing that He wanted so much that He gave all for.
1 Kings 9.4-5 – Now if you walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’
Here the Lord encouraged Solomon to keep walking down the road he was on. God’s appearing to him in order to say, “You’re on the right path! You’re doing what you should be doing! You’re headed toward blessing and a greater establishing of your kingdom. Keep doing what you’re doing!”
The Lord often encourages us in His Word to stay the course because we are prone to wander. And He wants those future rewards for us that He talks about and He wants to establish us like a tree planted by rivers of water. He wants us to have a life that’s on course, unwithered by the winds and storms of life. A life that is fruitful on both sides of eternity. And He encourages us to stay the course because there’s only one way that leads to truth and life and eternity.
Also here we see that the Lord encouraged Solomon that there was ever-more for him to look forward to. He says, “Solomon, I’ve got plans and stores for you and your children, and on into forever as you follow Me.” There was no graduation. No final level.
This is probably only going to resonate with the guys here, but did you ever beat the final level of a video game? Ever get to the end of Mario? You spend all this time and do the levels over and over again and you finally beat the boss or figure out a cheat code so you can beat the boss and what happens? There’s usually a tiny little scene where the cartoon characters are dancing and then credits like at the end of a movie. You kind of think that a golden ticket is going to emerge from your Nintendo saying, “Here’s your prize: You’re now owner of Willy Wonka’s Factory.” But instead it’s just a big letdown. You leveled up and then you’re done.
But with Christ there is no plateau. There’s no final tier where the Lord says, “Well…that’s all I got!” He has unlimited stores of joy and fruit and opportunity. And that’s an exciting thing!
It’s also a good reminder that the Christian life is a long-haul trip. It’s not just a little quick stop. It’s from now till forever.
After all these encouragements God gives Solomon a warning about the dangers that are out there. He warns him about idolatry and disobedience. The Lord explains that if Solomon changes course and disobeys God’s commands or starts falling into idolatry then there’s going to be some radical damage to their relationship. So the Lord says, “Stick with the plan so that you can get where you want to go and where I want you to go!” God, as revealed in the Bible, is not withholding or miserly, instead we see that He is intensely concerned with our growth and wellbeing.
Now here’s what’s great: We see all these encouragements and we see God’s plan, and then we should step back and notice that Solomon was doing it! A vibrant Christian life is possible.
Looking at him we see 3 characteristics that we can use to measure our own lives, since we also want a vibrant, Spirit-filled life with Christ.
The first we come across is the fact that Solomon had a plan.
1 Kings 9.1 – And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he wanted to do
Again, we get a good perspective on this from the New Living Translation. It says: “He completed everything he had planned to do.”
Solomon had made a plan to serve God and he systematically executed that plan. There’s a difference between a dream and a plan. A dream is a wish. It’s a goal that we wish was real. A plan is a course of action that gets executed. It’s easy to have a dream of doing something for the Lord, but we’re called to be people of action. We need to plan to serve God and start executing our plans. Now, sometimes we’ll plan something that is good and is Godly, but we’re not the people the Lord has in mind for it. That’s fine. David experienced this himself when he started a plan to build the temple. The Lord came along and said, “That’s not a bad plan, but you’re not the guy I’ve hand-picked for this.” The apostle Paul experienced this too. He made a plan to go to Asia but the Holy Spirit said, “No, not this time.” It’s not a bad thing when we come to a closed door. It’s a bad thing when we never go knocking at all. We need to be people who are making plans to serve God and who are executing those plans as the Lord guides us and provides for us.
We also should notice that his plan was born out of desire. What we desire, what we treasure in our hearts is going to dictate our actions and how we live.
Some desires are an acquired taste. You coffee drinkers out there, most of you didn’t like coffee as young children. It was something that was cultivated or slowly acquired. Now, for most coffee drinkers, it’s not just a regular staple, it’s a necessary and essential ingredient for your day!
Godliness is something we cultivate. And portions of it, things like serving others and selflessness are desires that have to be developed. Solomon had acquired a taste for serving the Lord and that desire got him planning and executing his plan.
The second characteristic we see in his example was that he was a man of prayer.
1 Kings 9.3 – The Lord said to him: “I have heard your prayer and your supplication.”
We’ve already seen how the Lord has made an open line of communication with us. Do you ever get a phone call and when you pick up it’s just dead air? It happens usually when it’s a telemarketer. When I answer the phone and there’s 2 seconds of dead air, I just hang up.
Luckily, the Lord doesn’t do that. But since we know the line of communication is open, we should pray without ceasing, as we’re commanded to do in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. James says in his letter, “Sometimes you have not simply because you ask not!” Prayer matters. Prayer is real. It’s heard and it’s valuable.
A Spirit-filled walk with God is always going to be characterized by a vibrant prayer life.
Finally, we’ve seen that he was a man with a plan, he was a man of prayer and the third characteristic in Solomon’s life at this point was that he was a man of great passion and devotion to the Lord.
A Spirit-filled life simply can’t grow out of a lukewarm lifestyle. Solomon’s devotion was marked by worship and focus and faith and building for the Lord. His life at this point in time was consumed by those things. He was a passionate believer. You could see affection for God and zeal for His word and fervor for His work. And we are told in the New Testament that everything we do should be done out of passion for Christ.
Now, Solomon also received a warning, so let’s allow the Word of God to warn us as well. Looking at this text let’s be warned not to make the mistake of not planning. If we fail to plan our spiritual lives, we will spend our days not doing anything for the Lord.
Let’s not make the mistake of not praying and being out of communication with God. Prayer is the key to direction and sometimes is the key to reception of good gifts from the Lord.
And let’s not make the mistake of not having passion for our Savior. Living a life affiliated with Jesus, but not committed to Him and His purposes.
We see these verses and it’s very clear that our God is with us and He is for us. He is a Giver of incredible gifts. He has shown us the way to a vibrant, Spirit-filled life, It’s the way that many of you are walking on right now. Stay the course. Press on and enjoy the Presence of God as He encourages you and builds you up.