Learning from Solomon
I have been struggling lately with a great number of issues, but last night I finally got some answers that satisfied me and eased my rebellious, hurting soul.
Last night I was reading the Bible and my reading covered 1Kings 9:1-9 and Deuteronomy 17:14-20. It is interesting to read these two passages together — especially in their greater historical context. Also, reading the end of Deuteronomy 17 was helpful to me because I had been frustrated with God’s law. It seemed to me that there was an awfully fine line that we are to walk to be within the law. I had been feeling that God tells us one thing and then another thing that is almost contradictory, but not quite. Then I read this,
“When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.”
which made me realize a number of things. 1. Keeping the law is an attempt to walk a fine line! You can stray from it to the right or to the left, so my feelings are validated and I probably shouldn’t be frustrated anymore because that’s just the way life is! It’s an attempt to walk a tighttope of a law that protects us from plummetting to our damnation. 2. My need for a daily reminder of the Law and the Gospel is nothing special — even Kings of Isreal needed to daily read a copy of the king’s law to remember their duties. 3. Solomon, a famous and great king, managed to break every point of the law for Isreali kings set forth in Deuteronomy 17:14-20. If that awesome man failed to keep the rules than everyone else is susceptible to failures like his too. He broke every single rule and he was originally blessed mightily by God. This is deeply striking of how vulnerable I am to slipping far from God, His commands, His presence and everything else that is lost along with slipping far from God.
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