September 23, 2021 — Kings 9:1–11:13              

“After Solomon finished building the Lordʼs temple, the royal palace, and all the other construction projects he had planned, the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, in the same way he had appeared to him at Gibeon. The Lord said to him, “I have answered your prayer and your request for help that you made to me. I have consecrated this temple you built by making it my permanent home; I will be constantly present there. You must serve me with integrity and sincerity, just as your father David did. Do everything I commanded and obey my rules and regulations. Then I will allow your dynasty to rule over Israel permanently, just as I promised your father David, ʻYou will not fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.ʼ

“But if you or your sons ever turn away from me, fail to obey the regulations and rules I instructed you to keep, and decide to serve and worship other gods, then I will remove Israel from the land I have given them, I will abandon this temple I have consecrated with my presence, and Israel will be mocked and ridiculed among all the nations. This temple will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by it will be shocked and will hiss out their scorn, saying, ʻWhy did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?ʼ Others will then answer, ʻBecause they abandoned the Lord their God, who led their ancestors out of Egypt. They embraced other gods whom they worshiped and served. That is why the Lord has brought all this disaster down on them.ʼ” 1 Kings 9:1-9

Once the people of Israel had crossed into the Promised Land, G-d told them not to intermingle with the people who lived in the land – do not marry their people, do not worship their gods, do not leave anything in its place. Instead, they were told to destroy everything. Now, this sounds like horrible instructions, but no matter, the people did not always do as G-d instructed. Eventually, their hearts and their loyalty to G-d was weakened by their presence among the people of these foreign lands, and soon they would also be worshipping other gods. It seems that Solomon, as wise as he was, fell into the same trap and to the same temptations as those many kings who went before him – and it led him and his people to future problems.

The Lord does not like it when we place our loyalties and our time for worship and praise upon other things – and upon other gods. It is the very reason the first commandment deals with our loyalty to G-d. Remember, our G-d is a jealous G-d who seeks a personal relationship with us – one that is not divided by other gods or other things that we might worship. But there are so many distractions, so many enticements in this world that constantly call us to follow them. It is always good to remember that G-d does not give up on G-d’s people.

Let Us Pray,

Lord Jesus, you are the good news we need to hear every day: just like G-d does not give up on G-d’s people in the Old Testament, you came to remind us that G-d will not give up on us. G-d will continue to welcome us again and again when we come to our senses, drop our loyalties to other G-ds, and return to you with our prayers and praises. Amen.

Pastor Dave

September 22, 2021 — Acts 21:1–14

“After we tore ourselves away from them, we put out to sea, and sailing a straight course, we came to Cos, on the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. We found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, went aboard, and put out to sea. After we sighted Cyprus and left it behind on our port side, we sailed on to Syria and put in at Tyre, because the ship was to unload its cargo there. After we located the disciples, we stayed there seven days. They repeatedly told Paul through the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem. When our time was over, we left and went on our way. All of them, with their wives and children, accompanied us outside of the city. After kneeling down on the beach and praying, we said farewell to one another. Then we went aboard the ship, and they returned to their own homes. We continued the voyage from Tyre and arrived at Ptolemais, and when we had greeted the brothers, we stayed with them for one day. On the next day we left and came to Caesarea, and entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. (He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.) While we remained there for a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. He came to us, took Paulʼs belt, tied his own hands and feet with it, and said, “The Holy Spirit says this: ʻThis is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man whose belt this is, and will hand him over to the Gentiles.ʼ” When we heard this, both we and the local people begged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be tied up, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” Because he could not be persuaded, we said no more except, “The Lordʼs will be done.” Acts 21:1-14

Paul often exhibits amazing strength, and faith. “Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be tied up, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” And though we think we do not have that kind of strength; we often see strength in the least likely of places. Such an example of faith was found on the wall of a concentration camp in World War II. On it a prisoner had carved these words: “I believe in the sun, even though it doesn’t shine, I believe in love, even when it isn’t shown, I believe in God, even when (God) doesn’t speak.”

Can we imagine the person who wrote these words? Try to imagine the skeleton-like hand gripping a broken piece of stone or a shard of glass to cut this powerful statement of faith and strength into a wall. Imagine the eyes squinting through the darkness to see each letter after it was carved. This is what happens when we come out of ourselves and allow G-d to work within us. Meister Eckhart puts it this way: “God expects but one thing of you and that is that you should come out of yourself insofar as you are a created being and let God to be God in you”. When we see such faith and conviction in the midst of images of horror, we are reminded yes, of man’s inhumanity against man, but also of the power of faith.

Let Us Pray,

Lord Jesus, help me to believe in the sun, even though it may not shine today; to believe in love even if it eludes me today; and to believe in G-d, even if I have trouble hearing you today. Amen.

Pastor Dave