My father rarely lectured me, but he did have good advice now and then. I wasn’t always smart enough to listen at the time he gave it, but as I grew older his words made more sense. As a father, now, I try to impart the same type of wisdom, sometimes even the same words, to my own children.
I also try to restrain myself. Rather than sitting my children down and lecturing them on how to live, filling them with all the intellectual brilliance I possess, I usually wait until they come to me. Then I know they want to hear advice from me. They are looking for my guidance.
In this passage we have the great Old Testament figure of David, king and blessed servant of God, giving advice to his son, Solomon. What two things should Solomon do? What does God know? How does David conclude?
It can be so easy to forget what part God plays in our lives. We can get to that place where we begin to think and believe that we are responsible for all of our own successes. We have done all the work. We reap the rewards.
But we need to be reminded now and then that everything is under God’s control and, therefore, we need to acknowledge who God is and what He does for us. As David points out, God is able to see into every heart and He knows the reasons behind what we do. If God is the Lord of all then, as David advises, we need to serve him with complete devotion and willingness.
In his advice to his son, David concludes with a comment on our relationship with God. If we search for God, if we work to be obedient to God, and if we take action to rely on God and trust in God then God will indeed be there for us. He will allow Himself to be found by us. We will have that connection.
But, if we reject God and start to feel that we can handle things completely on our own, then God will not be there for us. If we reject God, God rejects us. Then we will have to face life on our own.
DAILY CHALLENGE: How do you seek God?
No comments:
Post a Comment