Obedience Part 2: God's promises to Solomon.

The Bible says that God appeared to Solomon TWICE in dreams. This does not mean that Solomon simply dreamed about God. The Bible clearly states that God appeared to him (1 Kings 11:9). In 1 Kings 3:6-15 we see Solomon talking to God and God responding. Solomon was young when he took over as king after the death of his father King David. He asked God for wisdom to lead and rule over the people. God was very pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom and not riches or long life. So not only did God give Solomon abundant wisdom, he gave him what he did not ask for: riches and long life. But then God spoke and presented Solomon with an IF/THEN statement,

"And IF you walk in my ways, keeping my statues and my commandments, as your father David walked, THEN I will lengthen your days."

Sounds simple doesn't it??? Sounds simple to me. If you desire long life...do these things...What is God asking Solomon to do?

1. Walk in His ways.
2. Keep his statues and commandments.

(He even had King David to use as a model for what TO do (although David is not free from mistakes and sin).
The result of obedience??? Solomon will live a long life. His days will be lengthened.

The result of disobedience??? Solomon's days will not be lengthened. He will not live a long life.

God then appeared to Solomon a second time in a dream (1 Kings 9:1-9). This time we read about God speaking to Solomon. God tells Solomon that He has heard his prayer and that He will answer it. He also gives him another if/then statement.

"As as for you, IF you walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules, THEN I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, 'You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.' BUT if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, 'Why has the Lord done this to this land and to this house?' Then they will say, "Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshipped them and served them. Therefore the Lord has brought disaster on them.'"

Again, sounds simple doesn't it??? It sure does to me. If you desire a man to sit on the throne of Israel forever then do these things...What is God asking Solomon (and his children) to do here??

1. Walk before God with integrity of heart and uprightness (having David his father as a model)

2. Do all that God had commanded of him

3. Keep God's statutes and rules

4. Don't serve and worship other gods

The result of obedience??? There would always be a man (from David/Solomon's family) on the throne of Israel.

The result of disobedience??? Israel will be cut off from the land that was given to them, the house (temple in Jersualem) that was consecrated to God will be cast out of God's sight, Israel will become proverb among people and the house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone will know of King Solomon and his families disobedience.

King Solomon has a choice to make. In the following post we will look into what He decided to do...

Obedience Part 1: Why and who was Solomon?

So, I promised that I would write about what God has been teaching me about obedience through my study of 1 Kings and the life of Solomon and some of the other kings. At first, I was simply reading through 1 Kings until I came to this quote in the commentary section of my study Bible,

"The Bible is filled with stories of people who had direction from God and yet chose their own way. Their disobedience was rarely due to ignorance of what God wanted; rather, it grew out of stubborn selfishness." (Life Application Study Bible NASB pg. 579)

I decided to dig deeper into finding more specifics about what this was talking about. It truly interested me. Why? Because I often use the excuse, "Well, if I just knew for sure what God wanted me to do OF COURSE I would do it. I would do it wholeheartedly and I would not look back but right now, I just don't know for sure what he wants me to do." How many times have you said something like that??? In the midst of a time that you did not feel clear direction from God have you said something along these lines??? I know I have! But what I have found and want to share with you is that unfortunately, what you and I say we would do might not actually be what we would do if we were in that situation. Let's examine this further by looking at the life of King Solomon.

First of all, Who was King Solomon?
- He was the son of King David and Bathsheba.
- He was the builder of the temple in Jerusalem.
- He asked God for wisdom and God gave him wisdom and MORE (1 Kings 3:13).
- He was the wisest man who ever lived (1 Kings 4:30)
- He was very rich.
- He wrote Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, many proverbs and some psalms.
- He was known for having MANY pagan wives and concubines and and using wives to seal foreign agreements. (BAD)
- He was known for heavily taxing the people and working them VERY hard. (BAD)
- He allowed many of his wives to effect his loyalty to God. (VERY BAD)
- He reigned over Israel for 40 years.

Next, we will look at the promises from God to Solomon when God appeared to Solomon TWICE.

Life with twins...

There is never a dull moment. I love it!

Our favorite meal...

Do you have a meal that you love to make? That your family loves and you make all the time? At our house we do! About once a week we make chicken fingers, mashed potatoes and green beans with honey mustard and barbecue dipping sauces. It is SO yummy!

First we make the chicken fingers:
1. Buy chicken breast at the grocery store (thankfully we can buy some frozen meat here. The packages only come in one weight (a little over 1 lb).
2. Cut it into long strips.
3. Dip strips first into eggs and then into some flour with some Italian seasoning in it to coat the entire outside.
4. Pour about 1/2 inch of vegetable oil into a frying pan.
5. Fry chicken one side at a time (about 4 minutes each side. Don't make the oil too hot or the outside will burn before the inside is cooked).
6. Lay chicken on paper towels to absorb extra grease.

Then we mash the potatoes and cook the green beans. Did I mention I LOVE the pressure cooker these days??? The pressure cooker makes AMAZING green beans in no time at all.

Delicious Green beans in the pressure cooker:
1. Cut fresh green beans
2. Add to pressure cooker
3. Cover beans with water about an inch above the beans.
4. Add garlic powder, dried minced onion, salt and pepper to taste.
5. Close pressure cooker and cook on high heat
6. You have to wait until the pressure cooker "sounds" 4 times (about 15 minutes)
7. If you want the green beans to be REALLY tasty then add some butter (we usually eat them without the butter but either way, they taste great)

The barbecue sauce we actually can buy here imported at our grocery store but we make the honey mustard from scratch.

Delicious honey mustard recipe:
(I actually just guess at the amounts of each but I will try to give you a better guide here)
1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup yellow mustard
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp white vinegar
pepper to taste
Simply mix all ingredients together.

I'd love to hear about your favorite meals and how you make them. In Nepal you have to cook most everything from scratch. It has been a challenge by through it I am LEARNING to be a better cook and I love it. I am excited that I get to eat my favorite dinner in just about 3 hours!!!