SMBC Principal's Hour

After the spectacular showdown on Mount Carmel is overcome with fear, despair and isolation. In 1 Kings 19 we see the kindness of God’s ways on the worst of days. The chapter invites us to trust that God provides, perseveres and preserves, perhaps in ways that don’t match our assumptions and expectations.

Ahab and Jezebel are attempting to make the worship of Baal Israel’s official religion. Even though Israel is suffering from drought and now severe famine, they continue to try and worship both God and Baal, and refuse to choose between them. So God forces the issue, using Elijah. 1 Kings 18 is a call to give God our exclusive devotion: to be His, and no one else’s.

Israel’s kings have failed, and Ahab is the worst of them, chasing Baal and provoking the Lord. Enter Elijah. In 1 Kings 17, God shows that He alone shuts the skies, sustains life and raises the dead. In the heart of Baal’s homeland, during a devastating drought, God’s sovereign might is revealed in the faith of a Gentile widow. She is resigned to death, yet finds life when she welcomes Elijah. But Elijah is not the hero, rather, his life and the events in 1 Kings 17 point us forward to Christ, the ultimate display of God’s power to save and sustain the life of His people. With Christ the real hero, Elijah is then used by James, as one who models faith for ordinary believers taking God at His word.

What does the having an eternal perspective do to the way we view our life now? In Luke 16, Jesus tells a parable that forces us to confront the realities of heaven and hell, realities which drive us to make the most of every opportunity we have now to preach the good news.

After the split of the kingdom into two, the behaviour of Israel and Judah’s kings continues to decline. Abijah’s heart is not fully devoted to God and the kings of Israel in 1 Kings 15-16 all do evil in the Lord’s eyes. It’s a depressing pattern of faithlessness. But it’s a pattern of faithlessness that the world knows well – a pattern of rulers, ruling over God’s world but not according to God’s ways.

Despite the fracture of God’s people, Israel, into two kingdoms, the Lord keeps sending his word and shaping history. But who is listening and believing it? The word of the Lord offers King Jeroboam mercy and warning; but he defies it, creating his own man-made religion. It offers a prophet of Judah guidance and safety; he speaks it, then he abandons it. And an old prophet of Bethel abuses it by lies and deceit. Through a macabre animal encounter, the Lord warns, and then judges. A bizarre historical event presages Judah’s faithless rejection of God’s clear word. But there is grace and forgiveness for those who will listen and repent.

In 1 Kings 12, the chickens of Solomon’s sin come home to roost. As the kingdom tears apart, Rehoboam and Jeroboam make decisions driven by their desire for power, control and security, setting Israel on a disastrous path. The story offers a warning for us: how can we avoid looking back on our own lives with the painful realisation that things have unravelled? Yet even as the kingdom falls apart, God remains in control and continues to work out his purposes. This chapter challenges us to consider where we place our trust, how we respond when we have power, and whether we are willing to trust God’s ways rather than grasping for control ourselves.

David brought the Ark into the city of Jerusalem; now, Solomon brings it into the temple. Solomon’s prayer as he does so shows his concern that God will be seen to be central. His prayer conveys three main messages about God: it shows that Solomon appreciates the majesty of God; that he appreciates the mercy of God, and Israel’s need for it; and in the light of those realities, that he appreciates the necessity of the mission of God. And on the last day, Christ will be central: he will be our temple, and there will be no other (Rev 21).

The Solomon narrative presents an overwhelming portrait of plenty, peace, and prosperity. Right at the heart of the account lie 4 chapters which detail the building of a temple to YHWH. All this forms a jarring juxtaposition with the downfall of Solomon narrated in chapter 11, leaving readers to wonder, “How did it all come to this?” Yet, sprinkled through chapters 3-11 are a host of disconcerting details, which the author uses to invite us to take another look at Solomon. When we do, even that which seemed glorious is rendered hollow. Solomon’s entire story, like that of the nation, is a tale of misplaced loyalty from the beginning.

One wish. Solomon’s request for a ‘hearing heart’ to rule God’s people is granted, and along with it other good gifts. He becomes the Old Testament epitome of wisdom, justice, administration, and kingly rule over a happy realm. He wasn’t perfect; subject to flaws and mistakes; but a man who loved the Lord nonetheless. But his compromises begin to reveal his fickleness, which becomes a warning and challenge to us of our own ambiguity. Appearances can be deceiving – but not in the eyes of the Lord. One greater than Solomon is now here, offering us perfect wisdom, justice and mercy.