<b>My Heart in Perpetuity</b> devotion for 05-MAR-11

&lt;b&gt;My Heart in Perpetuity&lt;/b&gt; devotion for 05-MAR-11

Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst

Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.


My Heart in Perpetuity
After Solomon had completed building The Temple of GOD and his own palace, all the projects he had set his heart on doing, GOD appeared to Solomon again, just as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.
And GOD said to him, "I've listened to and received all your prayers, your ever-so-passionate prayers. I've sanctified this Temple that you have built My Name is stamped on it forever; my eyes are on it and my heart in it always. As for you, if you live in my presence as your father David lived, pure in heart and action, living the life I've set out for you, attentively obedient to my guidance and judgments, then Ill back your kingly rule over Israel, make 1 it a sure thing on a solid foundation. The same guarantee I gave David your father I'm giving you: 'You can count on always having a descendant on Israel's throne!
"But if you or your sons betray me, ignoring my guidance and judgments, taking up with alien gods by serving and worshiping them, then the guarantee is off I'll wipe Israel right off the map and repudiate this Temple I've just sanctified to honor my Name. And Israel will become nothing but a bad joke among the peoples of the world. And this Temple, splendid as it now is, will become an object of contempt visitors will shake their heads, saying, 'Whatever happened here? What's the story behind these ruins?' Then they'll be told, The people who used to live here betrayed their GOD, the very God who rescued their ancestors from Egypt they took up with alien gods, worshiping and serving them. That's what's behind this GOD-visited devastation.'" - 1 Kings 9:1-7 MSG

Love can hurt. God made a promise to Solomon that he would love Israel and Israel's king forever. It was up to Solomon and Solomon's offspring as to exactly how God would keep that promise. The Israelites were God's people, and their king was God's man. God was determined to fulfill his promise to love his people and his king no matter what. But there was an easy way and a hard way. One kind of love went directly to the blessings that Solomon and Israel most desired. But the other kind of love took a detour to discipline and pain.

Sadly, God had to show his love to Solomon's descendants and Israel through discipline—exile from the land and destruction of the monarchy because of the path God's king and people chose to take. After Nebuchadnezzar took King Zechariah into exile, no descendant of David ever sat on the throne in Jerusalem again.

Love never fails, and God never stopped loving his king or his people. That's why he disciplined them, after all. God will always love us the way we need to be loved.