He Establishes Us

I Kings 2:12
“Then Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his kingdom was firmly established.”
Solomon’s kingdom was firmly established. Go did this. Psalm 40:2 says, “He lifted me up from the pit of despair, out of the miry clay; He set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm.” That’s what God does.
Step one is to put God first. Jesus prayed, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done”. The way we done is to do what He says. What He says is that we are sinners in need of repentance. We go to Him and ask for it. Jesus spent His blood to do this.
We accept Him as savior and as Lord. We are saying that we are on His team. He’s our coach. He tells us what position to play and when to go in. This can be tough, as we want self governance. He will grant that, but we can’t have both our way and His way.
Most of us have experienced our way until we’re sick of it. We usually have to get there to give it up. We indulge in the sin that seems so attractive, but then we learn that we’re stuck and getting worse. Jesus says in John 8:34, ‘Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you that everyone practicing the sin is a slave of the sin.”‘ The promise that sin gives is an evil one. It enslaves and kills.
When we trust the Lord with our lives, He blesses it. I Cor 2:9 says, ‘Rather, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.”’ That’s interesting, because I can imagine some good things for me. Yet, God’s ways are far better. He knows us perfectly, better than we know ourselves.
In addition to an amazing life, He fills us with peace and joy. David said in Psalm 23, “My cup overflows.” Peter says this in his first letter, “Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy”, (1:8). He fills us and blesses us to the point that we don’t have words to describe.
Our non believing friends don’t understand. In Peter’s same letter, he says, “Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do. So they slander you.” We still pray for them, but we usually have to say no to their invitations. We no longer enjoy those things.
We are following the Lord now. He guides us and blesses us. We are also adopted by Him. We are part of His family. He is our Father. Some of us had bad fathers or no fathers. It takes a while for us to sense that He is that. He uses people to bless and comfort us. We also learn to love and trust Him.
Even though He is invisible, we sense Him. Romans 8:16 says, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” We feel Him. We sense His presence and His approval. The hymn, In the Garden, has this chorus, “And He walks with me, and He talks with me, And He tells me I am His own, And the joy we share as we tarry there, None other has ever known.” While it isn’t quite that real, we call our christian experience a walk.
Coming back to our topic of our lives being firmly established. It’s at least that, but far, far more. Thank You, Lord, for Your great blessings. You’ve chosen us, adopted us, filled us and so on.