He Promised

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

HE PROMISED

1 Kings 8:12-21

12 Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; 13 I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever." 14 While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed them. 15 Then he said: "Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his own hand has fulfilled what he promised with his own mouth to my father David. For he said, 16'Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built for my Name to be there, but I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.' 17 "My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. 18 But the LORD said to my father David, 'Because it was in your heart to build a temple for my Name, you did well to have this in your heart. 19 Nevertheless, you are not the one to build the temple, but your son, who is your own flesh and blood — he is the one who will build the temple for my Name.' 20 "The LORD has kept the promise he made: I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised, and I have built the temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. 21 I have provided a place there for the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with our fathers when he brought them out of Egypt."

NIV

The main theme of these words of Solomon is that the LORD promised and He had kept his promise. We too should always have the words, “Praise be to the LORD” except He is not just the God of Israel, but He is also the God of the universe who spoke everything into existence and who formed us with his own hands and breathed life into us as he formed us in the image of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, because He used the words, “in our image”. But it is first the promise, and second, that he keeps His promise. When we take His promise for eternal life to all who accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, we sometimes say that it is our hope, or our hope is in Jesus. But because He promised, is it really just a hope? Does hope diminish His promise or make it null and void? God promised, and He has always kept His promise, so then the question is whether we believe Him. Jesus promised that He would prepare a place for us, so that where He is we can be also, and that because He prepared a place for us, He would come back to take us there. He promised, and the Lord always keeps His promise. He told Martha that whoever lives and believes in Him will never die, then he asked that great question, “Do you believe this?” He asked the same question of the blind man, when He asked, “Do you believe I can do this?” it always come back to the truth that the Lord promised and He always keeps His promise. So then we could say that we are people of the promise. We live in Jesus, but we also live in His promise. He also made it clear if we want to be in His promise, that is to see the kingdom of heaven, we must be born again, or born from above. That too is a promise, and he always keeps His promise. So then, as a born-again, spirit-filled follower of Jesus, we will see His promise fulfilled in us and to us, because He promised and He always keeps His promise.