1 Kings 2
1As the time of King David’s death approached, he gave this charge to his son Solomon: 2“I am going where everyone on earth must someday go. Take courage and be a man. 3Observe the requirements of the LORD your God and follow all his ways. Keep each of the laws, commands, regulations, and stipulations written in the law of Moses so that you will be successful in all you do and wherever you go. 4If you do this, then the LORD will keep the promise he made to me: ‘If your descendants live as they should and follow me faithfully with all their heart and soul, one of them will always sit on the throne of Israel.’ (1 Kings 2:1-4, NLT)
The Daily DAVEotional
Back in May, my wife graduated from Talbot Seminary with her Masters degree. It was the culmination of 4 years of hard work and diligent study.
The commencement speaker was none other than Crawford Lorritts, a familiar face for us as he was a long-time staff member with Cru before becoming the Senior Pastor of Fellowship Bible Church in Georgia.
The commencement speech often serves to not only celebrate the milestone accomplishments of the graduates but to impart valuable wisdom as they embark on a new professional journey. Speakers often use their platform to encourage the graduates to live and work in such a way that they make a positive impact on the world over the course of their lifetime.
David was nearing the end of 40 years of rule as the king of Israel. He had experienced much in his lifetime and had finished well. He had the benefit of a lifetime of service and sacrifice to pass on to his son who was just beginning his tenure as king and was wet behind the ears politically, militarily and as a leader in general.
Dr. Lorritts used the words of David from this passage to encourage and challenge the Biola and Talbot graduates in the audience.
Dr. Lorritts opened with this statement:
“When you are born, you look like your parents…when you die, you look like your decisions.”
The choices we make in life are ultimately what define us, not our heritage, our pedigree, the degrees we’ve earned or the credentials we’ve accumulated. The decisions we make will shape our legacy. Dr. Lorritts highlighted three challenges that David gave to his son Solomon before he passed.
The first thing David said to Solomon is that everyone will die someday. “There will be a day, Solomon, when you will be at the end of your life, just as I am now.” David’s charge to his son was to live courageously.
Paul, in his final words in his first letter to the Corinthians, shares the same idea when he says:
Be on guard. Stand true to what you believe. Be courageous. Be strong. (1 Corinthians 16:13)
Life is full of choices and sometimes our choices will be hard. David’s challenge to Solomon, and God’s challenge to us, is to be courageous and make the right decisions, even when they’re hard.
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The second charge Dr. Lorritts made to the prospective graduates was to decide to live obediently (vs 3). Dr. Lorritts said that “disobedience is far more expensive than obedience.”
We will be faced with opportunities to take the easy way out – to compromise. But disobedience often leads to consequences that have far-reaching effects. People often choose disobedience because they’re either unaware of the consequences or they don’t properly evaluate the scope of the consequences. Many people foolishly think that there will be no negative consequences to bad decisions. This is naive and short-sighted.
The consequences of our actions always catch up to us.
The third charge that Dr. Lorritts gave to his audience was to decide (choose) to live faithfully (vs 4).
Dr. Lorritts said that faithfulness has to do with making the right small choices on a daily basis. It’s not perfection but it is persistent pursuit that says you can be trusted.
Being consistently faithful in small decisions is what the Bible calls “training in righteousness”. It’s conditioning your mind, your body and your heart to respond the right way. When you do that consistently in little things, it’s easier to make the right decision in the harder, bigger things. I wrote about this in my blog posts, “Can Golf Nourish Your Soul?” and also “Training in Righteousness (Part 2).”
Ironically, Solomon, though he was said to be the wisest person to ever live, did not ultimately heed the words of his father. Though he started off well, he foolishly discarded his father’s advice later in his life and the results were disastrous. Solomon’s legacy was tainted and the consequences of his disobedience and unfaithfulness negatively impacted the nation of Israel for generations.
Solomon did much that was good during the course of his reign, but in the end, he was led astray by his many foreign wives to forsake the Lord in pursuit of foreign gods. His inability to follow the Lord with his whole heart, as his father David had, led to a split within the kingdom. Sadly, Solomon’s example of unfaithfulness would be repeated countless times by subsequent kings, culminating in Israel’s punishment and conquest at the hands of the Assyrians and then later, the Babylonians.
The nation of Israel learned first-hand that “disobedience is far more expensive than obedience.”
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Reflection
What is the best commencement speech you have heard? What made it the best?
What advice did the commencement speaker at your high school and college graduations give?
Solomon was the wisest person to ever live and he wrote much of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, highlighting is extensive wisdom. Why do you think that Solomon was not able to live out the wisdom that he heard from his father and that he himself had penned?
How would you evaluate your ability to follow these 3 charges from David: to live courageously, live obediently, and live faithfully? How would you rate yourself? Where do you need to improve?
What steps might a person take to help live out these three challenges more consistently? How can you ensure that you won’t forsake the Lord later in life in pursuit of false gods or idols?
Photo by Adedire Abiodun: https://www.pexels.com/photo/professor-yemi-osinbajo-making-a-speech-at-obafemi-awolowo-university-in-ile-ife-osun-state-nigeria-10550102/
