Sun.’s Devo - The Best is Yet to Come

Read: 2 Chronicles 8:11-10:19; Romans 8:9-25; Psalm 18:16-36; Proverbs 19:26 Solomon finished the Temple and his new palace and moved his wife to the new palace he had built for her. *** Solomon kept all of God’s holy days and feasts in the new Temple. He followed David’s blueprints for all the service in the Temple and did not deviate from those plans. *** Solomon brought gold back from Ophir that weighed almost 17 tons. *** The queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame and went to visit him with some hard questions. She brought a huge caravan of camels loaded with spices and gold. Solomon was able to help her with all her questions and showed her all in his kingdom. She was amazed at the opulence and beauty of his kingdom and how excellently he governed it. She gave him 9,000 pounds of gold and many spices and jewels. *** Hiram sent gold and sandalwood that Solomon used to make the steps for the Temple and his royal palace. and to construct the musical instruments. He made 200 large shields from the gold and 300 smaller ones. They were placed in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. The throne of Solomon’s was like none other. There were six steps with a gold footstool. The statue of a lion stood on each side of the throne and 12 other lions stood on the end of each of the six steps. This was a replica of God’s throne in heaven. Everything in the Temple was to show the glory of God. Solomon became the riches and wisest man in the world. He ruled from the Euphrates River to the Nile and all the kingdoms of the earth brought him gifts and feared his fame. *** When he died he had ruled for forty years. His son Rehoboam became the next king. He traveled to Shechem to be crowned king. Jeroboam learned of Solomon’s death and came to see his coronation. Jeroboam had been prophesied the next king of Israel over 10 tribes. He had fled to Egypt while he bade his time. *** The leaders of Israel asked Rehoboam if he was going to be the hard taskmaster that his father had been and asked that he lighten their load. Rehoboam told them he would give them his answer in three days. He went to his father’s advisors and asked them how he should answer them and they advised him to give them what they asked. In return, they would be faithful to him. He then asked his peers, his age and they told him to answer them roughly and tell them that he would be even tougher than his father. *** Rehoboam wrongly took the advice of his peers and answered them roughly. When Israel realized that the king had refused to hear them and their complaints, they refused to be ruled by him. *** Rehoboam sent Adoniram who was in charge of forced labor to restore order, but the people stoned him to death. When Rehoboam heard this he fled to Jerusalem. Israel split with Rehoboam ruling over Judah and Benjamin (the southern kingdom) and eventually Jeroboam ruled all of the rest of Israel. *** In Romans we learn that if we choose to be controlled by the Spirit of God then we have no obligation to do what our sinful nature urges us to do. If through the power of the Spirit living in us we put to death the deeds of our sinful nature, we will live and be called the children of God. *** The Spirit of God mades us confident in our position with God. We are his children who are heirs to his glory and kingdom. But if we share in his glory, we must also share in his sufferings. Our present suffering is nothing compared to the glory we will receive later.when God reveals us as his children. All creation was under God’s curse of sin and death and it is waiting for the day when we as God’s children are free from death and decay. One day, God will give us our new bodies as our full rights as his children. We look forward to that day. *** Lord, thank you that you have made a way for us to triumph over sin and death. May we choose to walk in righteousness and peace with God. Thank you for the wonderful promise of life and glory. We look forward to the fulfillment of your promises.