Go to the Home page Weekly bulletin article archives

As Each Day Requires (I Kings 8:59)

by Chris Simmons

The Bible clearly teaches of the need to think ahead about our future. Perhaps more importantly, God’s word seeks to focus our attention on what we need to do today to bring about the future we should be longing for. As children of God, it’s critical that we live in the moment and address the needs of each and every day as they come. Jesus taught in Matthew 6:34, So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” James wrote in James 4:13-14, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” Please also consider the words of Solomon upon the occasion of the dedication of the temple in I Kings 8:56-61, “Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised; not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He promised through Moses His servant. May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us or forsake us, that He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, which He commanded our fathers. And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, as each day requires, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no one else. Let your heart therefore be wholly devoted to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as at this day.” As we struggle with life during this current pandemic, it’s very important that we think about the words of Solomon that were, interestingly, spoken during a time of prosperity but apply so well during times of adversity as well.

First, we need to know that it is to God that we need to turn as we reflect on “the cause of His servant and the cause of His people” (verse 59). There are many causes to which people devote their hearts and time to but there is no greater cause than that of the cause of Jesus Christ to save the souls of men. Although the word “cause” in the following passage is not in the original Greek and was supplied by the translator, I believe it is appropriate when we consider the cause of Christ as applying to the “greater progress of the gospel.” Philippians 1:12-14, “Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.” We need to focus on our cause to “speak the word of God without fear.” Each day requires that we focus on “the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness” (Psalms 45:4) as we learn from God.

Second, as we deal with requirements of “each day,” let us never forget that God always keeps His promises and that none of them have ever failed. Just as Joshua reminded the Israelites in Joshua 23:14, we also should “know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one word of all the good words which the Lord your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have been fulfilled for you, not one of them has failed.” Days like these should provoke our thoughts towards the “precious and magnificent promises” that have been “granted to us” (II Peter 1:4) by God and the need for faith in each and every one of them. Promises such as are found in Matthew 7:7 that if we “ask … it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you” remind us to persist in our “cause” or purpose each and every day. Passages such as Hebrews 13:5 that promise us, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you” should bring great comfort to us in such troubled times as we continue each day to seek God and His will.

Third, as Solomon phrased it in verse 58, we need to “incline our hearts to Himself.” The idea of inclining our hearts is to stretch toward or to turn towards something. Each day requires that we direct our hearts and minds towards the things above even as we read in Colossians 3:1-2, “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.” In order for God to maintain the cause of His servant, we must turn our hearts away from the things of this life and “incline” them, or set them, on the things above.

Fourth, we read in verse 58 of the need to renew our commitment to “walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments.” In times of trials and tribulations, we need daily self-examination to see if we’re doing ALL of God’s will. This is similar to the command to Joshua (1:7) before leading the Israelites into the promised land when the Lord told him, “Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law … do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.” Even in times of distress or persecution for the cause of Christ, we need to each day watch for, what we accommodatively call, sins of omission and commission. When Paul wrote in II Corinthians 13:5, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you – unless indeed you fail the test?,” he is speaking of something that involves “continuous and repeated action” (Zodhiates), or something that “each day requires.”

Fifth, in verse 59 we note the need to “draw near to the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16) by praying “without ceasing” (I Thessalonians 5:17). Each day, we ought to take comfort knowing that the Creator of all hears, welcomes, and answers our prayers (cf. I John 5:14-15). When Jesus taught us the manner in which we are to pray in Matthew 6:9-13, one of key points in verse 11 is to seek from God “our daily bread.” We are to turn to God for our daily needs and trust Him, and not ourselves, while we are “casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you” (I Peter 5:7).

Sixth, in verse 61, we read of the need each day to eliminate distractions in our life so that we might be “wholly devoted” to the cause of Jesus Christ. During such times as these, our adversary seeks to distract us from the cause of Christ by focusing – dare I say, obsessing – on the temporal matters afflicting us. Paul’s effort in preaching the gospel was to “secure undistracted devotion to the Lord” (I Corinthians 7:35). Even that which isn’t sinful in and of itself, can cause us to not be “wholly devoted” to God. We ought to remember the words of Jesus to Martha in Luke 10:41-42, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only a few things are necessary, really only one.” In order for God to bless the cause of His servants as each day requires, we must focus on the one thing that is necessary.

Each person has needs, challenges, trials, and opportunities. During such challenging times, may we focus on the cause for which we serve, remember the trustworthy promises of God, incline our hearts and minds to His word, pray without ceasing, and be wholly devoted to Him. Today, may the Lord our God “maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people … as each day requires.”

Go to the Home page Weekly bulletin article archives