Remain Faithful
Keep watch, be on guard, stay alert for God has a plan that will come to pass and you have a part to play. Remain faithful to the God who is always faithful.
“When Solomon had finished building the temple of the Lord…The Lord said to him: “I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; My eyes and my heart will always be there. As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne…But if you or your descendants turn away from me…then…This temple will become a heap of rubble…Because they have forsaken the Lord their God…and have embraced other gods…Three times a year Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built for the Lord, burning incense before the Lord along with them, and so fulfilled the temple obligations.” 1 Kings 9:1-25
When you close your eyes, can you imagine sitting face to face with Jesus? Can you imagine the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth speaking to you directly? One of the most important things you can ever do on your faith journey is learn to hear God’s voice. God appears to us. God comes to us. God speaks to us. God is not distant, but near.
God sets before Solomon a choice. He sets before him a path to blessing and a the path to curses. God gave him a choice. Like Solomon we have a choice. Will we be faithful, do what is right and just, and follow Jesus? Or will we let our relationship with Him become routine and ritualistic?
Solomon thought what he did going forward was right but it was not. He started forming alliances with a very people who had enslaved the Israelites, he short changed his relationship with Hiram, who had helped him build everything, and he did the bare minimum to meet the expectation of temple obligation. How does it please God or honor him when we do the minimum and treat the invitation to be in personal relationship with him like a checklist of obligations?
Solomon may have been wise, but he allowed the world to determine the path he would walk and the result was all he worked for turned to rubble. God has set before you blessing and curses. He wants you to choose the best and blessed life. Which road describes the road you are traveling?
“Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.” Psalms 150:1-6
What does the path of blessing sound like? It is full of praise. It can be heard from a distance. The song of the redeemed is not quiet. It is not silent. Do you see and hear how loud the blessed path is? David said the life of those who live closely to God is a life of celebration with songs, dancing, and praise.
David said let everything that has breath praise the Lord. You have breath. How are you praising God for the life you have been given? Is your life so full of celebration that others cannot help but hear your song of salvation? Or are you quietly checking the box and continuing on a path doing the bare minimum?
“Let him lead me to the banquet hall, and let his banner over me be love. Listen! My beloved! Look! Here he comes, leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills. My beloved spoke and said to me, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me. See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land…let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. My beloved is mine and I am his” Song of Songs 2:4-16
Jesus raises a banner of love that all people would be welcomed home to the family of God. Banners are not meant to be stuffed in back closets. What good is a banner if no one sees it? Banners are meant to lead and be seen. Banners are bold and bright not hidden or hard to see. Have you raised a banner that others might believe and be led to the banquet? As followers of Jesus, we are to do what He has done and is doing. We are to raise banners to help others believe.
Just like God appeared to Solomon, Jesus speaks to us. His voice is sweet and his face is lovely. He speaks life and says, rise up, wake up, get ready for the kingdom. The kingdom of heaven is here now and our hope is in God. In order to hear another person’s voice we have to listen. When we allow Jesus to speak we will hear Him say you are mine and I am yours. One reason we praise is we have a personal Savior who bought us back, meets us where we are, calls us His, and guides us with compassion.
“You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor…I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth…In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances, to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’ “ He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water…Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones…the Sovereign Lord says: “See, I will beckon to the nations, I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their hips…you will know that I am the Lord; those who hope in me will not be disappointed…all mankind will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.” Isaiah 49:3-26
The Scriptures are all connected and Jesus is the fulfillment of God‘s promises. The God who met Solomon face to face, sent His Son that we could see him face to face. The servant of all came that both the Jew and the Gentile could be free. God has a plan and that plan will come to pass. The plan is a plan of restoration and salvation for all who follow the banner of love leading to eternal life.
In the midst of the struggle, during the hardest times, when we have fallen short and turned away, God steps in and has compassion on us. He calls us to look up and lift our voices with shouts of praise like David invited us to do. Where is your focus? Where are you looking? At your problems or the Promise Keeper? What voices are you listening to? The Liar or the Lifter of Voices? It can be hard to hear the voice of hope when going through hard times but that does not mean hope is not calling.
Jesus ushered in a new covenant and carries our burdens. He paid the price on the cross that we would count the cost of following Him. The cost of following Jesus is giving up the dead end life that led along the path of curses and instead embraces the new life of blessing with songs of joy that come when we return to the place we belong, the loving arms of the Father. Truth once again tells us that everything that has breath should Praise the Lord, our Redeemer, and our Savior.
“As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!” “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many. “You must be on your guard…the gospel must first be preached to all nations. Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved…So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time…the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken…Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’ ” Mark 13:1-37
Don’t miss Jesus words. Hear them. Just like God appeared to Solomon face to face He speaks to us today. His words have power and will come to pass. He said Be on guard! Be alert! Watch! Jesus did not call His followers to a passive faith, but to an active and attentive life. He invites us to keep listening because He is still speaking, still leading, and still preparing His people for what is ahead.
The disciples stood in awe of the temple, but Jesus saw beyond the worldly splendor of large stones. He is teaching us the safest place to build your life is not on what you can see, but on what He has spoken.
Look at all the connections. Banners and building. God warned Solomon that if His people turned away, the temple would become a heap of rubble. Jesus stood before that same temple centuries later and declared that not one stone would be left upon another and they were not.
David called God’s people to lift their voices in praise like banners of salvation, the Song of Songs invited us to let God lead us with the banner of love. Isaiah proclaimed the banner of salvation would gather the nations, and Jesus told us to watch, stay alert, stand firm and see. Every passage points to the same truth: God’s plan always prevails. He is always faithful. His promises never fail. His voice is still calling His people. Kingdom life is not drifting through life. It is listening, obeying, praising, watching, and following wherever Jesus leads.
Are you prepared to meet God face to face? Whose voice are you listening to today? Are you alert to the leading of Jesus, or have the distractions of this world dulled your hearing? Are you building your life on things that will one day crumble, or on the words of Christ that will never pass away?
Keep watch. Be on guard. Stay alert. You have a part to play. Those are not suggestions, not boxes to check; they are commands of God. As you listen to His voice and walk in obedience, you will discover that while kingdoms rise and fall, cultures change, and earthly treasures disappear, but the Word of God stands forever. Follow the One whose promises always come to pass and He will empower you to participate in His salvation plan of bringing the good news to the ends of the earth as your remain faithful.