God had appeared to Solomon at the beginning of his reign (I Kings 1:5-15), and now appeared to him a second time, after Solomon had built the temple and the palace in Jerusalem (9:2-9). We should note, then, that Solomon did not experience “visions” on a regular basis. Like us, he may have prayed often; but he only had a small number of occasions in which he heard God’s response or saw a vision of God’s purpose in a detailed, articulate way.

As we have seen many times before, God had both blessings and warnings to offer. If the people lived in faithfulness, Solomon’s throne would be established throughout the generations (9:4-5), but if they turned away, they would experience exile and disaster (9:6-9). Remembering the blessings and the warning would have been particularly appropriate for the exiles in Babylon, some four centuries later: they would have read and pondered together this part of their history many times.

Even so, to people today this requirement often seems harsh, as if God were terribly self-centered in insisting on our devotion, under penalty of terrible punishments if we fail to offer it. Why would God be that way?

To wonder about that presupposes that we were always independent and then God came from out of nowhere and suddenly demanded our allegiance as a new thing. But in reality we are created for fellowship with God: that is where our hearts long to live. And that means the loss of relationship is actually the harshest situation. The requirement to devote ourselves to God is not a strange new thing. In the end, we can only enjoy living in the presence of the Lord by living in the presence of the Lord; we can only walk with God by walking with God. If instead we walk away from the presence of the Lord, we no longer have it.

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Teach us, O Lord, to live as your people in the way you intend. We are not good at listening; we are not good at following your will. Protect us from our own arrogance, of thinking the way we want to go will be better than the path you have chosen for us.

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