Monday, March 7: 2Chronicles 8- Sticking to the task

 

At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built the temple of the LORD and his own palace… (1). During the last few chapters we have been reading about Solomon’s reign and primarily the building of the Temple and instituting worship at the Temple. What is missed in the retelling is the amount of time it took to build the Temple.  It took 20 years to build the Temple and his palace in Jerusalem. Twenty years on the job is a long time. Twenty years of focus, organization, management, and oversight. Twenty years of managing expectations, dealing with setback, problems and ‘issues’, all to build two projects.

I rolled this over and over.  Many a project dies for lack of focus and ‘stick-to-it-ness’. Credit Solomon with this;he stayed at the task to which God called him.  The most important concern God has called me to, is maintaining my faith. This may sound selfish but it really isn’t. My faith is the foundation for everything I do and more importantly, everything I am. My faith in God –Father, Son and Holy Spirit– is the core of my life. This text call me to examine my resolve to walk with Jesus through thick and thin, on the tough days and the easy ones, and all the days in between.

The Spirit’s promptings today are for me to persevere and to keep strengthening my faith-foundation. I realized that this description of Solomon was written long after he had died. It is not as if Solomon was patting himself on the back saying, ‘Look at what I have accomplished.’ No, it was a chronicler looking back and marveling at Solomon’s ability to finish a task.

Sometimes the day to day activities of life can be routine and mundane, filled with setbacks and successes. My desire is that after I have died and gone on to be with the Lord, that others, my kids in particular, will see my life and say, “Bill (dad) stayed with his faith, he labored and worked 20-30-40-60 years with Jesus and his foundation was strong and sure…” For this to become true, I need to stick to the task of maintaining my faith in the Lord.

Another great aspect of this chapter is, after the 20-years of temple and palace building, Solomon kept working to make Israel strong and great…

Lord, may it be said of me that I kept working to make Your kingdom strong and great. Lord God, I can only do that if my foundation in You is strong and solid.  Grant me Your grace, O Lord, to keep at the important concern of walking closely with You each and every day of my life, as long as You give me breath. Amen.