111 - "When Your Desire to Succeed is Greater Than Your Desire To Be Holy" 1 Kings 1-2

                                                                    

Do not fret because of those who are wrong. Do not envy those who do wrong. Because. Like the grass, they will soon wither one day. Psalm 37:2. Trust in the Lord and do good.

Take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Trust in Him and He will do this. Psalm 37:3, This is a sermon, says the commentaries, 'calculated not for our devotion, but for our conversation." It is Maschil---a teaching psalm. Fall Forward in Faith. No matter how bleak. No matter how black. It shall be "well with the soul of those who fear God." 

Last words: Be Strong. Show what you are made of. Do what God tells you. Keep an eye out for the signposts.

I Kings 2:1-4  When David's time to die approached, he charged his son Solomon, saying, "I'm about to go the way of all the earth, but you—be strong; show what you're made of! Do what God tells you. Walk in the paths he shows you: Follow the life-map absolutely, keep an eye out for the signposts, his course for life set out in the revelation to Moses; then you'll get on well in whatever you do and wherever you go." 

Last words make you so want to listen to what they have to say about real life. No formulas from David, just beautiful rhetoric from a man who lived a dangerous, courageous life with a heart for God. I wonder what David thinks at the end of his life about his failures to trust God.  

66LL says about this book of I Kings: "Your desire to be effectiver, to depend on biblical principles for success in your family, church, career, and friendships is legitimately strong." Okay, stop right there.  I would say that my Christian life was spent depending on biblical principles and it was legitimately strong. 

But.... keep reading this:  "But when that desire is stronger than your desire to be holy and to depend on My power for becoming more like My Son, whether you succeed or fail in other ways, then you will not advance my plan...." 

Okay, that makes me so want to stop and evaluate. I think there was sin in my life---distance from people, jealousy over other's success, being so hard on myself I was really unkind to myself, and the laundry list goes on...---my heaviest point is that there was relational sin I overlooked all the time cause I couldn't straighten it out with my family or friends.......... nor could I walk out or walk away from the relationships I was in.  I never really took a look at how I came across to people nor did people really tell me. I was more focused on how they treated me.  I thought everything in life was okay until 18 years ago when I hit a crisis I couldn't overcome. The Great Divide. I hadn't been naming my evil.  Really didn't know how.  I was more interested in succeeding and I was in most ways. I've been an overcomer my whole life.  But success is not the signpost that everything is all right.  "Success is not greatness."