{"id":34646,"date":"2025-02-13T22:00:58","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T05:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-kings-8_54-66-copy\/"},"modified":"2025-02-04T13:01:07","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T20:01:07","slug":"1-kings-9_1-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-kings-9_1-14\/","title":{"rendered":"God Cares More About Your Character than Your Accomplishments"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Kings 9:1-14\u00a0 (CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 Kings 9:1-14.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

1 Kings 9:1-9 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Solomon had finished building the temple of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do,
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0the\u00a0LORD\u00a0appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to him: “I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“As for you, if you walk before me in integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws,
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“But if you or your sons turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them,
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And though this temple is now imposing, all who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, ‘Why has the\u00a0LORD\u00a0done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the\u00a0LORD\u00a0their God, who brought their fathers out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them–that is why the\u00a0LORD\u00a0brought all this disaster on them.'”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses\u00a01-9:\u00a0 Earlier in\u00a01\u00a0Kings\u00a03:5, when Solomon was just starting his reign, God appeared to Solomon in a dream at the city of Gibeon.\u00a0 At that time God told Solomon to walk in His ways and obey His statutes as David his father had (1\u00a0Kings\u00a03:14).\u00a0 Now, fast forward to today’s passage in\u00a01\u00a0Kings\u00a09.\u00a0 Here we see that Solomon has completed building the temple, his own palace and “achieved all he had desired to do” (v1). God appears to Solomon again in a dream (v2) like He did over a decade earlier and\u00a0His message for Solomon is the same: “walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws.” (v4; compare this to 1 Kings 3:14).<\/p>\n

God’s promise is that if Solomon would walk faithfully before Him and obey His commands, God would ensure that a descendant of David would always sit on the throne of Israel (v4-5).\u00a0 But if Solomon or his descendants turn away from God and do not observe His commands, Israel will be cut off from the land and the temple will be destroyed (v6-9).\u00a0 This was God’s covenant with Solomon.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0God is more concerned about your character than your accomplishments.<\/strong>\u00a0Notice that God’s heart for Solomon before Solomon completed such great projects and after was always the same:\u00a0 God’s main concern was not what Solomon would accomplish, but that Solomon would stay close to God and walk in His ways.<\/p>\n

No matter how old you get or how much you accomplish, always remember that what is most important by far is that you maintain a humble heart before God and that you walk in His ways.<\/strong>\u00a0 Don’t ever think that your age or your accomplishments mean that you don\u2019t need to humble yourself or grow more like Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0Through every decade of your life hereon out, may you seek closeness and obedience to God as your number one priority<\/strong>.\u00a0 For God is more concerned about the quality of your character than the quantity of your accomplishments.
2.\u00a0Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s covenant with Solomon.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Eventually Solomon and many of the\u00a0kings\u00a0that succeeded him would turn away from God and embrace idols.\u00a0 This resulted in the negative part of God’s promise coming true: Israel would be taken over by their enemies and brought into exile while the temple would be destroyed.\u00a0 \u00a0However,\u00a0in Jesus Christ, we find the fulfillment of the positive part of God’s promise.\u00a0 As the Son of God and also as the Son of David, Jesus did what no one else could do:\u00a0 He fully walked in God’s ways and fully obeyed God’s commands.\u00a0 Now this Son of David reigns as king forever over all of God’s people.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1 Kings 9:10-14 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built these two buildings–the temple of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and the royal palace–
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0King Solomon gave twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, because Hiram had supplied him with all the cedar and pine and gold he wanted.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But when Hiram went from Tyre to see the towns that Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“What kind of towns are these you have given me, my brother?” he asked. And he called them the Land of Cabul, a name they have to this day.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Now Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents of gold.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 10-14:\u00a0 In return for all the gold that Hiram King of Tyre gave Solomon to build the temple and the royal palace, Solomon gave Hiram 20 towns in Galilee.\u00a0 Hiram was unhappy, felt he had been scammed and called those towns in Galilee “Kabul”, which means “worthless”.\u00a0 This region would thus become known for centuries as a worthless region.\u00a0 (For example, see John\u00a01:49\u00a0where Nathaniel hears that Jesus is from Nazareth in Galilee and skeptically says: “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?”)\u00a0 Little did Hiram King of Tyre realize that from this “worthless” region would arise the greatest, most valuable and most worthy king of all: Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0God loves to take that which others call worthless, that which others despise, and make some beautiful out of it.<\/strong>\u00a0 As Paul says in\u00a01\u00a0Corinthians\u00a01:27, God chooses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and the weak things of the world to shame the strong.\u00a0 So\u00a0if you’re tempted to think that you’re small, worthless, weak or foolish, remember that God specializes in using small, weak, foolish and “worthless” things for His glory<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Father, thank You that where Solomon and so many of his descendants failed, Your Son Jesus succeeded, and now He reigns forever as our king.\u00a0 Thank You that what the Hirams of this world might call small, weak, foolish or “worthless”, You can use to do things that the big, strong, wise and “worthy” cannot do.\u00a0 Thank You for being willing to use us in that way.\u00a0 Lord, build Your church and let Your kingdom come through us.\u00a0 In Jesus’ name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

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opyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 Kings 9:1-14.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!\u00a0<\/p>\n

1 Kings 9:1-9 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0When Solomon had finished building the temple of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do,
\n2\u00a0\u00a0the\u00a0LORD\u00a0appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.
\n3\u00a0\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0said to him: “I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.<\/p>\n

On verses\u00a01-9:\u00a0 Earlier in\u00a01\u00a0Kings\u00a03:5, when Solomon was just starting his reign, God appeared to Solomon in a dream at the city of Gibeon.\u00a0 At that time God told Solomon to walk in His ways and obey His statutes as David his father had (1\u00a0Kings\u00a03:14).\u00a0 Now, fast forward to today’s passage in\u00a01\u00a0Kings\u00a09.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34648,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34646"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34649,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34646\/revisions\/34649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}