Lent 2016 – Day 30

1 Kings 8:54-66

When Solomon had finished praying this entire prayer and supplication to the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread toward heaven. And he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying: “Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised; not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He promised through Moses His servant. May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us or forsake us, that He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, which He commanded our fathers. And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, as each day requires, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no one else. Let your heart therefore be wholly devoted to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as at this day.”^[1]

The king, as he finishes praying, rises from his knees, spreads his hands toward heaven and blesses the people. Think about that for a moment. The king, not the high priest, not a prophet, not someone from the Levitical priesthood, not only prays fervently for the people, but then blesses the people. In most nations of the world, it is almost inconceivable for a head of state blessing the nation. Can you imagine the Queen of England, the President of the United States, the Prime Minister of Germany or the head of any nation you can think of blessing the people, let alone publicly praying for it? Yet, that is precisely the role Solomon plays here in this text.

Our world is in the midst of an incredible moral crisis. From the highest levels of government to the very dregs of the earth ethics and morality is on shifting sand. That which was once known to be sinful, and therefore taboo, has become increasingly acceptable and less offensive. Now those who protest the cultural shift taking place right before our eyes are the ones considered to be out of step and in a strange way somehow sinful according to prevailing attitudes and accepted morals. It would be absolutely incredible for the head of state to buck the downwardly spiraling trends and challenge an entire nation in the manner Solomon in this text does, and yet that is perhaps exactly what our nation(s) need. Leadership that is more than just governmental, but moral as well. Well it is a thought and perhaps a plea as well.

Lord Jesus, You see and know the moral dilemma in which we find ourselves, our nation, and our world. Our very world has been turned upside down. We barely know what to do, say, or even feel. Help us Lord as we humbly bow before You. Help us to commit to a different kind of life that honors of You. In the name of Jesus we ask it all and pray. Amen.

^[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), 1 Ki 8:54–61.