Twenty years into his reign, Solomon has a second visitation from the Lord. The Lord was certainly with Solomon. God’s message was similar to the first… stay faithful. You and your descendants stay faithful and I will be with you.
As the remainder of the chapter unfolds, it seems like Israel and Solomon were living the perfect life. Life is good. Things are going well for Solomon and for the country.
However, I have read his story many times and I know that as perfect as things may look on the surface there were problems brewing beneath the perfect exterior that will be visible in a few chapters.
I realized that we can construct wonderful facades that hide sad realities that exist underneath. How many times at funerals do we hear all the wonderful stories of the deceased but the narrative leaves out the ‘other’ parts? How many news reports have I heard that interviewed neighbors of some major criminal and they generally say the same thing, “Johnny was a nice man?”
The Lord’s whisper reminds me that we are whole people. Our exterior life is important… doing good, observing God’s decrees and so forth. However, our interior and unseen life is important as well… We need to live faithfully here, too.
We are whole beings, not only the part we show other people, and God’s command is for us to love Him with all our heart and soul and mind and strength.
Oh, Lord God, I desire to follow You fully. Please deal with the parts of me that need changing and growth. Lead me and guide me to fullness in You. purge out my sin and enter in to all the corners of my life. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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