Episode 1464: Benediction

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 1464 of the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. I'm Hema

[00:00:07] Hema Vyas: Hema Vyas. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence, and impact the world by using your time, your talent, your treasures, to live out your calling. Having the ability to find your state of gold is key, and one way to be inspired to do that that is to listen to this inspired stewardship podcast with my friend Scott Maderer.

[00:00:39] Scott Maderer: The benediction is a reminder that yes, this moment in time may have ended, but worship truly has not ended. Worship never ends. Yes, we may move from this place, but we should take God and our faith with us. We leave the place of worship, but [00:01:00] worship should never leave our hearts. Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast.

[00:01:08] If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, Your talent and your treasures for your true calling. In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, you will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others, and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

[00:01:30] In today's spiritual foundation episode, I talk about one Kings chapter two verses 10 through 12, and chapter three verses three through 14. I share how we often need to remember that perfection isn't what we were asked to be. And I also share how we need to carry the word on out of service. 1 Kings 2 10 12 and 3 3 14 says, Then David slept with his ancestors and [00:02:00] was buried in the city of David.

[00:02:02] The time that David reigned over Israel was 40 years. He reigned 7 years in Hebron and 33 years in Jerusalem. So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David and his kingdom was firmly established. Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David. Except that he sacrificed and offered incense at the high places.

[00:02:24] The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the principal high place. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, Ask what I should give you. And Solomon said, You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant, my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart towards you, and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today.

[00:02:59] And [00:03:00] now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. Although I am only a little child, and I do not know how to go out or come in, and your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant, therefore, an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil, for who can govern this great people of yours?

[00:03:27] It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. And God said to him, Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life, or riches, or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word. Indeed, I give you a wise and discerning mind.

[00:03:46] No one like you has been before you, and no one like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life. No other king shall compare with you. If you will walk [00:04:00] in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.

[00:04:08] So I've been talking about the story of David, and now we're turning to his son and the king after him, Solomon. And when we've been talking about David, we've talked a lot about questionable antics and some bad behavior. And now We move from the man after God's heart, David, to Solomon, also known as Solomon the Wise.

[00:04:34] This idea of wisdom and passion for living and for life and worship doesn't always seem to work together. And here we're maybe supposed to begin to see something in the combination, something in this merging of the head and the heart, the intellectual and the spiritual, wisdom and feeling. as part of what we [00:05:00] do to express faith and commitment to God.

[00:05:04] Notice, by the way, it's pretty clear both from David's story and Going forward and from this point with Solomon's that God is not looking for perfect people to step up and lead David was clearly a work in progress and made many mistakes even late in his life He still struggled with flaws and foibles that constantly got in his way and tripped him up So surely Solomon has learned from the weakness of his father But in fact, he too is flawed and right here in this text notice Solomon is hedging his bets a little bit.

[00:05:41] There's a passage in there where it says, Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statues of his father David, except, or sometimes it's translated as only, he sacrificed and offered incense at the high places. So yeah, he loves the Lord, only [00:06:00] he's sneaking out and going to the high places and burning a little incense and leaving a little sacrifice now and then.

[00:06:07] If it's not clear what this is about, it should be clear from the context that the writers of 1 Kings disapprove of this action. Remember back in Deuteronomy, it was declared that when God brings the people out, they're to worship in the place that God declares, the place where God will reside.

[00:06:26] So to go out and pay attention to the high holy places, this is the places of the Cainites. This is the places of the people that lived there before and still live there. It's almost like you're going out and sacrificing to other gods. And it's clear that there's still a lot of risk in having a king at all.

[00:06:45] And here, they're making clear that Solomon isn't perfect. But that shouldn't bother us. God can use imperfect people. He can use any of us. even those of [00:07:00] us that are inept, uncertain, and wavering. In fact, notice it's at one of those high places where the Lord appears to Solomon. It's right there when he's going out to do some of those sacrifices that maybe people don't approve of.

[00:07:19] That's when God shows up, and God seems to make one of those Chance of a lifetime kinds of offers. What should I give you? I don't know if this is a test I don't know if God already knew the answer and what Solomon was going to say I don't know. I would love to have heard a recording of both the offer and the answer Because I think even the tone that Solomon answered this in might be interesting.

[00:07:48] Was it with confidence that he says, Give me wisdom so that I can make the right choices? Or was it out of worry and almost anxiousness or embarrassment that he said, I need wisdom because [00:08:00] I don't know the way. I'm confused. Help me out. I don't know. Maybe we read too much into this conversation.

[00:08:11] This very personal prayer of blessing and presence. Stepping back, notice what God says to Solomon. He says, Go forth. God invites Solomon to go out from this place, to walk in God's ways, to do what I've commanded you to do. He gives him a benediction, a moment of blessing. He's imparting on him both a blessing, and he's giving him a charge or a command.

[00:08:42] A moment. This is what happens to us in worship as well. We come together and hear the word, but then we're told to go out and carry that word out from the service. The benediction is a reminder that yes, this moment [00:09:00] in time may have ended, but worship truly has not ended. Worship never ends. Yes, we may move from this place, but we should take God and our faith with us.

[00:09:14] We leave the place of worship, but worship should never leave our hearts. Thanks for listening.

[00:09:21] Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode, do me a favor, go over to facebook. com slash inspired stewardship and like our Facebook page and market that you'd like to get notifications from us so that we can connect with you on Facebook and make sure that we're serving you to the best [00:10:00] of our abilities with time and tips there.

[00:10:04] Until next time, invest your time. Your talent and your treasures develop your influence and impact the world.