December 6, 2024 1 Kings 8:35-40
December 6, 2024 1 Kings 8:35-40
35 “When heaven is shut up
and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward
this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict
them, 36 then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of
your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way
in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given
to your people as an inheritance.
37 “If there is famine in the
land, if there is pestilence or blight or mildew or locust or caterpillar, if
their enemy besieges them in the land at their gates, whatever plague,
whatever sickness there is, 38 whatever prayer,
whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing the
affliction of his own heart and stretching out his hands toward this
house, 39 then hear in heaven your dwelling place
and forgive and act and render to each whose heart you know, according to all
his ways (for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of
mankind), 40 that they may fear you all the
days that they live in the land that you gave to our fathers.
Solomon doesn’t take for granted that God would forgive and
hear His repentant people. God’s response to our repentance comes from His grace,
not from justice. Solomon recognized that some plagues come from our own heart.
God chooses to offer forgiveness when we repent not out of justice but out of
grace.
As you examine your heart, are there areas where you need
to seek repentance? As we strive to abide in
Christ and put Jesus over everything, what will that look like in your life?
Robin Adams
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