Glory to God! The Lord has been good to us throughout the past week as He has blessed us with everything we need in life to keep up with our personal and family and communal/social and spiritual life. Our desires and determinations ought to be always aligned to bring glory and honor to the Lord our God as He is the sole source of our lives here on earth as well as in eternity as the Creator and Sustainer and Redeemer and Savior and the Giver of eternal life. He is the God who took care of us in our yesterdays (past), and He is the God who takes care of us today (present) and He will be the God who will take care of us in our tomorrows (future), as the Lord our God remains the same forever, as God promised to us – His chosen people: I the LORD do not change … (Malachi 3:6; also refer to Psalm 102:27). Also, it is mentioned regarding Jesus Christ that He remains the same yesterday and today and forever: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8; also refer to Revelation 1:8). God neither changes nor anything God created changes nor can anyone change it. As God remains the same and never changes in His form, thoughts, words, deeds, plans, and so on, and everything He created also remains the way they were created. Even mankind is created to remain the same (their internal and external forms except the growing years) but his thoughts, words, actions have become corrupted and inconsistent as the sin entered their life through disobedience to God’s commands (Genesis 3:1-24). Not only they themselves became corrupted and inconsistent but everything they make also changes constantly like infrastructure, shelter, clothing, transportation, machinery, technology, and communication devices, and so on. Everything man-made changes constantly but everything God made remains as it is created and never changes because God created it once for all and they all follow His order as He set at the time of their creation. For instance, the sun and moon and stars and seasons [spring, summer, autumn, and winter] and day and night and morning and evening and everything else runs their courses very promptly since their creation – they neither wear out or breakdown, neither are they ever late or early for their appointed time schedule. We are not even able to understand all that God created and how they function, as Zophar the Naamathite exclaimed: Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens above—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths below—what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea (Job 11:7-9). Also, Solomon king of Israel [perhaps, the wisest king ever ruled on earth] stated that I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it (Ecclesiastes 8:17; also refer to Isaiah 40:28).

God’s wisdom, power, knowledge, understanding, plans, and all that God does are beyond human comprehension. We can understand only what is seen, heard, experienceable, or anything up to the extent we [the human beings in general] can reach with our ability and resource [one of the appropriate example is the International Space Station (ISS) and occasional human-less but remotely human controlled space expeditions that goes beyond two hundred and fifty miles above the earth’s surface where the ISS orbits the earth]. However, if we are a multimedia using person, then we may be able to get some idea and visual effect about the universe beyond what we see and hear and experience (especially watching some sci-fi movies in general or some space movies including 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Stars Wars, Interstellar, etc; or some space related tv series and shows). That means, the known part of the universe would be a like a tiny speck in the entire universe [which has no limit]. It would be something like the example of the people and the world belonged to them in the speckle concealed from the view of others, like in the story/movie of ’Horton Hears a Who’.

The Lord has blessed us with an invitational and instructive Scripture passage for our SftW meditation this week, which is taken from 1 Kings 2:3 (mentioned above). When king David became very old and the end of his life was nearing (1 Kings 1:1; 2:1), he gave this constructive instruction to his son Solomon, as he succeeded him to the throne of Israel as king (2 Kings 1:29-40). David urges his son Solomon to be faithful and obedient to God and obey and act according to the righteous decrees and commands and laws and regulations as it is written in the Law of Moses (1 Kings 2:3a), so that he may prosper in all he does and wherever he goes (1 Kings 2:3b). God gave a similar command to Joshua [the God appointed leader of the Israelites as the successor of Moses] after the death of Moses, saying:

2 Moses my servant is dead … 5 As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. … 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful (Joshua 1:2-8).

David’s spiritual counsel to his son Solomon [which is mentioned in 1 Kings 2:3] was not just a father’s advice to his son but a means to keep God’s covenantal promise to the entire nation of Israel active in order to bring it into fulfillment, as it is stated:

[God said] I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God. Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come” (Genesis 17:7-9; also refer to Deuteronomy 29:1-29; Hebrews 8:8-10).

And, elsewhere it is written, as God spoke to the Israelites through Moses:

This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites (Exodus 19:5-6).

In the light of the promise God made with the ancestors of the Israelites, it was inevitable for king David to give such directives to his son Solomon, the newly crowned king in Israel as his successor, in order to fulfill all that God promised to Abraham and his descendants after him with reference to the nation of Israel and particularly all that God promised to do through him and his descendants after him as part of the covenant He established with him and his household, as it states: … the Lord may keep his promise to me: ‘If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel’ (1 Kings 2:4). David urged his son Solomon to observe all that the Lord, the God of Israel, requires of him as He appointed him to be the king over His people Israel:

• • it was an invitation to maintain a personal relationship with the Lord his God
  • it was a godly counsel to keep the righteous laws and decrees and commands the Lord God gave them through His servant Moses
  • it was a prayerful advice to his son to walk in obedience to the Lord his God
  • it was a  godly guidance to lead people in righteousness and justice as the divinely appointed ruler of the people
  • it was a father’s plea to his son to honor God in everything he say and do
  • it was a personal advice to place God at first in the kingdom, in the family, and in one’s own life.

David’s desire was that his son Solomon king of Israel should take God and His matters seriously and obey God’s righteous laws and decrees and commands in its entirety because when God delivered His people from bondage in Egypt and led them to the promised land through wilderness [a place where they had to fully depend on God for their protection and provision], God specifically commanded them to honor Him with their lives and obey His commands in its entirety (refer Deuteronomy 10:12-13) …

• • they shall have no other gods before Him who delivered them from the bondage in Egypt (Exodus 20:3)
  • revere [fear] and respect and stand in awe of Hm (Deuteronomy 6:13a)
  • love Him with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and with all our strength (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27)
  • walk in obedience to Him (1 Samuel 15:22; Jeremiah 7:23; Acts 5:29)
  • serve Him with all their heart and with all their soul (Deuteronomy 6:13b; 10:12)
  • take oaths in God’s name (Deuteronomy 6:13c; 10:20)
  • to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that He has given them through Moses (Deuteronomy 10:13)

God spoke through Moses to His people in the wilderness that And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good (Deuteronomy 10:12-13). Also, God spoke through prophet Micah, saying: He [the Lord] has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8). God, being the creator of the universe [which include the heavens where God lives and the earth where we live] and everything in it including the humankind, will do His Will and fulfill His purpose in heaven and on earth and we, His children, ought to live our life and follow Him accordingly (Psalm 33:11; Isaiah 46:10; Ephesians 1:11 [1:3-14]). As the children of God, our calling is to live our life worthy of His calling in our lives, which includes …

• • Live a life that is pleasing to Him (2 Corinthians 5:9)
  • Honor the Lord our God with our life [as our Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer and Savior, and the Giver of eternal life] (Deuteronomy 6:13)
  • Love Him with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and with all our strength (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27)
  • Obey His righteous laws and decrees and commands in its entirety (Deuteronomy 30:10)
  • Worship and adore Him (Deuteronomy 6:4-7; Matthew 4:10; Luke 4:8)
  • Do whatever He commands us to do (Matthew 7:24; 12:50; Mark 3:35; Luke 11:28; John 2:5; 13:17; 15:14).

David knew that God commanded the Israelites [through His servant Moses] to strictly follow His righteous laws and decrees and commands, which says: So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in obedience to all that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess (Deuteronomy 5:32-33). These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you (Deuteronomy 6:1-3 [6:1-25]). Thus, David admonishes his son Solomon to give careful thought to God’s plans and purposes and heed God’s righteous laws and decrees and commands and do His will [live and act worthy of God’s call] as the crowned king in Israel as God gave special directives and counsel to the person who would be crowned as king in Israel:

When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel (Deuteronomy 17:18-20).

Perhaps, David learned all these from the righteous laws and decrees and commands God gave the children of Israel through Moses as well as from his own life experiences as king in Israel that all God’s people ought to abide in Him and obey His righteous laws and commands as no purpose of His can be thwarted (Job 42:2; Proverbs 21:30; Isaiah 14:27; 46:10; 55:11). Let us again read and analyze the passage we have chosen for our meditation (1 Kings 2:3) and see what we can learnt from it for our own spiritual benefit …

• • Obey and observe all that the Lord commands (2:3a)
  • Walk in obedience to the Lord (2:3b)
  • Keep His decrees (2:3c)
  • Keep His statues (2:3d)
  • Keep His commandments (2:3e)
  • Keep His judgements (2:3f)
  • Keep His laws (2:3g)
  • Keep His regulations (2:3h)
  • Keep His testimonies (2:3i)
  • Obey and act according to all that are written in the Law of Moses (2:3j)
  • Live according to God’s will so that you may prosper wherever you go and whatever you do (2:3k, also refer to Deuteronomy 29:9)

The Scripture kept on speaking to every one who trusts in the Lord to follow all the righteous laws and decrees and commands of the Lord our God (Deuteronomy 29:9). All those who follow them wholeheartedly and without any prejudices will be blessed, as it is promised to Joshua: Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful (Joshua 1:8). It is mentioned in the book of Psalms that:

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers (Psalm 1:1-3).

Dear brothers and sisters in the  Lord, as we conclude our this week’s SftW meditation, as David asks his son Solomon to observe what the Lord your God requires, which includes to walk in obedience to the Lord his God, and to keep God’s decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses (1 Kings 2:3), let us also obey the righteous laws and decrees and commands that are given to us as it is recorded in the Holy Scriptures and live our life worthy of His calling. May the Lord God Almighty bless us all! Amen!