We aren’t great at holding up our end of the deal. Luckily God has always known this.
Last week was about Solomon and how that ended. He was given everything and had every advantage. God appeared to him directly and told him what to do, which we all assume would settle it for us. It probably wouldn’t. It didn’t for him.
But it’s worth considering how it started.
God didn’t tell Solomon to go prove himself first. He didn’t say, follow these rules for a while and then I’ll give you wisdom, riches, and long life. He gave it to him, then told him what to do with it. That order matters.
And it isn’t unique to Solomon.
Look at David. Made king, established, given victory and position, and then later failed in a way that wasn’t subtle. Look at Israel as a whole. Delivered, restored, protected, and then the same pattern shows up again. Drift, idols, collapse, and eventually crying out to be restored again.
It keeps happening, which makes it harder to treat as isolated mistakes.
God gives first. Then people fail to hold onto what they were given. The issue isn’t that the instructions were unclear or that they didn’t have enough. They had more than enough. They just didn’t keep it.
That includes you.
There’s another place where the order matters.
Through Jesus Christ, forgiveness is already there.
It doesn’t work like clean yourself up and then come. It’s come, and then get cleaned up.
Same pattern. God gives, God restores, and we don’t hold it together on our own, which is fortunate because we can’t.
All that’s left is to turn, ask, and believe.
It’s never too late.
Until it is.
P.S.
If you’d like to read through the Bible this year, you can join us at His Word Together.
No commentary.
No telling you what to think.
Nothing to buy.
Nothing fancy.
Just steady time in the Word.
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