Not Abandoned

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

NOT ABANDONED

1 Kings 6:11-13

11 The word of the LORD came to Solomon:   12 "As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, carry out my regulations and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father. 13 And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel."

NIV

God’s promise not to abandon His people Israel was contingent upon Solomon following the LORD’s decrees, carrying out all the LORD’s regulations, and keeping all the LORD’s commands and obeying them. That is a lot to expect of Solomon, but then the LORD expected that of all who believed Him. It is good that these conditions were within the realm of the Old Covenant, and we are no longer held to those standards as a provision for our Salvation, nor is the Lord abandoning us. However, we must accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and that would mean that we need to be born again. Nicodemus had a difficult time understanding that phrase, but Jesus explained it thoroughly so that we also know our spirits were dead in our sins, and our spirits needed to be reborn from above. This would mean we became a new person in the inner self of our being. God also promised that he would never leave us nor forsake us, yet Jesus told us that we do need to stand firm to the end. Jesus warns us that when times get tough or difficult times come, many will turn away from the faith. He also warned there would be false prophets and they would deceive many people, and that because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. This is not an easy truth to deal with, as we can see so much of that happening in our current culture. Too many people have fallen prey to those silver-tongued purveyors of the gospel of prosperity to grow a following of givers so that the false prophet lives in prosperity. We are warned to stand firm in our faith no matter our situation in this life, for as we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, Jesus will make sure we have enough. However, the greatest blessing is that He will not abandon his people as long as we do not abandon him, but stand firm until the end.