1 Kings 9

Don’t forget His instructions

The Lord said to him: “I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built to put My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. ~ 1 Kings 9:3

Have you ever put something together, worked hard to make it beautiful, and then realized you forgot to read the instructions? Maybe you’ve assembled furniture with a few “extra” screws left over and decided they probably weren’t important. Or maybe you’ve followed a recipe, skipped an ingredient because you didn’t think it mattered, and ended up wondering why your finished product didn’t look anything like the picture. Sometimes we want the blessing of the finished product without paying attention to the instructions that get us there.

That’s part of what makes today’s scripture reading so important. Solomon had accomplished something amazing. The temple had been completed, dedicated, and filled with the glory of God. He had prayed, and God had answered. Solomon was experiencing a season many people dream about, success, influence, provision, and the visible evidence of God’s blessing. But God came to Solomon with a reminder. The blessing wasn’t the destination. Solomon still had a responsibility to walk faithfully with Him.

That message is just as important for us today. We can experience answered prayers, open doors, opportunities, success, and seasons of blessing, yet still need to remember that everything God gives us comes with a responsibility to remain faithful to Him.

Here are three truths from this chapter that remind us that God isn’t just interested in what He can do through us. He’s interested in who we’re becoming along the way.

1. Don’t let answered prayer become the end of your pursuit of God.

God told Solomon, “I have heard your prayer and supplication.” Solomon prayed, and God heard him. What an memerable moment. There’s something powerful about knowing that God has heard you. But notice what happens next. God didn’t simply tell Solomon, “Congratulations, you made it.” He also gave him instructions about continuing to walk faithfully.

Sometimes we can become so focused on getting God to answer a prayer that once He answers it, we move on to the next request. We prayed for the job, and when we get it, we get busy. We prayed for the relationship, and once it happens, prayer becomes less important. We prayed for the opportunity, and when the door opens, we forget who opened it. Answered prayer should make us want to know God more, not need Him less.

Think about your own circumstances. Maybe you’ve been praying for something for a long time, and suddenly the door opens. That’s wonderful, and there is time to celebrate it and thank God for it. But don’t let the answer become more important than the One who answered.

If God gives you the opportunity you’ve been praying for, invite Him into how you handle it. If He gives you increase, ask Him how you should manage it. If He gives you influence, ask Him how you should use it. If He gives you a new season, ask Him how you should walk through it. God’s blessings should never replace our dependence on Him.

2. Success requires continued obedience.

God told Solomon that if he would walk before Him “in integrity of heart, and in uprightness,” then his throne would continue on after him. Solomon had built a beautiful temple, but God was concerned about something deeper than what Solomon had built. He was concerned about Solomon’s heart and his obedience.

That’s a word for us today because success can sometimes create a dangerous illusion. We can begin to think that because God has blessed us, everything we’re doing must be right. But blessing doesn’t give us permission to stop following His plan and obeying.

You can be successful and still need God’s direction. You can be busy doing good things and still need to guard your heart. You can be serving in ministry, raising a family, building a career, running a business, or helping other people and still need to make sure you’re walking closely with God.

Imagine someone being promoted at work. They prayed for the opportunity, and God opened the door. Now they’re working longer hours, taking on more responsibility, and gaining recognition. There’s nothing wrong with success. But if success begins to crowd out prayer, Scripture, family, church, generosity, or time with God, then something needs to change.

The question isn’t simply, “Is this opportunity from God?” Sometimes the better question is, “Am I still following God now that I have it?” Obedience isn’t just for the difficult seasons. It’s just as important in the successful ones.

3. What God gives us should be used for His purposes.

The rest of the passage in 1 Kings 9 describes Solomon’s building projects, his workforce, his ships, his wealth, and his growing kingdom. Solomon was accomplishing great things. But this chapter reminds us that everything we have can become an opportunity to honor God.

God gives us resources, relationships, abilities, influence, time, finances, creativity, and opportunities. None of those things are bad. In fact, they can become powerful tools in His hands when we use them for the right purposes.

Think about what God has placed in your hands right now. Maybe you have the ability to encourage people. Maybe you have a business, a home that can welcome people, a testimony that can help someone else, or resources that can meet a need. Maybe you have influence in your workplace or within your family. Don’t underestimate what God can do with what you already have.

You don’t have to wait until you have more money, more time, more influence, or a bigger platform. Solomon had a kingdom, but God still cared about how he ruled it. We may not have a kingdom, but we all have something.

Maybe your “kingdom” is your kitchen table, your workplace, your small group, your neighborhood, your family, or your circle of friends. Those places can become platforms for God’s purposes when you invite Him into them.

Sometimes using what God has given you for His purposes looks very ordinary. It can be making the phone call, inviting someone to dinner, praying with a coworker, encouraging a discouraged friend, giving generously, serving when nobody notices, or simply choosing obedience when nobody is watching. God can do extraordinary things with ordinary faithfulness.

There’s a sobering lesson in 1 Kings 9. Solomon had everything many people would consider evidence of success, but God still reminded him that the condition of his heart mattered more than the size of his accomplishments. That’s something we need to remember in a world that constantly tells us to measure our lives by what we accomplish, what we own, how many people know us, and how successful we appear.

God measures differently. He cares about our faithfulness. He cares about our obedience. He cares about our heart. He cares about whether we continue walking with Him after the prayer has been answered and after the blessing arrives.

Today I want to encourage you not to become so excited about what God is doing through your life that you forget the God who is doing it. Celebrate every answered prayer by thanking Him for every open door and enjoying every blessing. But most importantly, keep your heart close to Him.

If God has given you an assignment, stay faithful to it. If He has opened a door, walk through it with Him. If He has placed something in your hands, ask Him how He wants you to use it. And if you find yourself in a season of success, don’t assume you need God less. You need Him just as much as you did when you were praying for the breakthrough. The greatest evidence of God’s blessing in your life isn’t simply what you have built. It’s that you’re still walking with Him while you build it and beyond.

Today’s scripture reading: 1 Kings 9

1 And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he wanted to do, 

2 that the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. 

3 And the Lord said to him: “I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built to put My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. 

4 Now if you walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, 

5 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’ 

6 But if you or your sons at all turn from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 

7 then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them; and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight. Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 

8 And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and will hiss, and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ 

9 Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore the Lord has brought all this calamity on them.’ ”

10 Now it happened at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king’s house 

11 (Hiram the king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress and gold, as much as he desired), that King Solomon then gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 

12 Then Hiram went from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, but they did not please him. 

13 So he said, “What kind of cities are these which you have given me, my brother?” And he called them the land of Cabul, as they are to this day. 

14 Then Hiram sent the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold.

15 And this is the reason for the labor force which King Solomon raised: to build the house of the Lord, his own house, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. 

16 (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and taken Gezer and burned it with fire, had killed the Canaanites who dwelt in the city, and had given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.) 

17 And Solomon built Gezer, Lower Beth Horon, 

18 Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land of Judah, 

19 all the storage cities that Solomon had, cities for his chariots and cities for his cavalry, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

20 All the people who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel— 

21 that is, their descendants who were left in the land after them, whom the children of Israel had not been able to destroy completely—from these Solomon raised forced labor, as it is to this day. 

22 But of the children of Israel Solomon made no forced laborers, because they were men of war and his servants: his officers, his captains, commanders of his chariots, and his cavalry.

23 Others were chiefs of the officials who were over Solomon’s work: five hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people who did the work.

24 But Pharaoh’s daughter came up from the City of David to her house which Solomon had built for her. Then he built the Millo.

25 Now three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he had built for the Lord, and he burned incense with them on the altar that was before the Lord. So he finished the temple.

26 King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion Geber, which is near Elath on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. 

27 Then Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, seamen who knew the sea, to work with the servants of Solomon. 

28 And they went to Ophir, and acquired four hundred and twenty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.

Journal:

• What prayer have I seen God answer recently, and how can I continue pursuing Him now that the answer has come?
• What area of my life requires continued obedience to God right now?
• What has God placed in my hands that I can use for His purposes?
• Have I become more dependent on God in my current season, or have I become more independent?
• What is one specific step of obedience God may be asking me to take today?