1 Kings 9: How to Be a Faithful Witness for Christ

Realize this morning that I don't have a verse quoted before I started the devotional. That's because you should go read the whole passage on your own before you read this. The passage is 1 Kings 9:1-9. It's nine verses, not that long. Here, I'll even provide a link for you: https://www.esv.org/1+Kings+9/. Don't be lazy. Go and read. Good job.

After reading the passage above (which I'm sure you did, and if you didn't, just stop reading this devo, because you'll not get anything out of it), it is easy to see how this passage is describing what a faithful witness for God looks like. Oftentimes in the Old Testament, we forget that the Israelites were missionaries as well, at least in one sense. The entire purpose of the nation of Israel was to "show God off" to the nations around them, that the nations around them might turn from their ways and serve Yahweh. Throughout the Old Testament, Israel often fails at doing this. However, there are certain instances where they succeed. Remember the stories of Rahab and the Queen of Sheba? Those are two great examples. Nevertheless, we see this pattern of witness being played out here for King Solomon, and we will do well to look at it today.

First, let us discuss the positive side of the equasion. In verses 4-5 of the text that you certainly just read, God promises that if Solomon obeyed God fully (this is a paraphrase for what God actually said, which we don't have time to dive into because I have to go to work soon), Solomon's reign would be established forever. In other words, if Solomon was a perfect king, Israel would never be overthrown. However, God's words didn't stop there, but gave the negative side of the equasion as well, which we look at today. If Solomon "turned aside" from following God, God promised that he would cut off Israel from the Promised Land and cause the temple to be destroyed. God even says that Israel would become a "proverb" to the people around them, which we will look at in a second. Nevertheless, we find these words coming true, do we not? Because this was, in fact, exactly what happened to the nation of Israel.

But let us look at that word once more: a proverb. We all know what a proverb is, its a wise saying. We read proverbs in scripture, but what does it mean to "be a proverb." Well, it's not a good thing. What the text is trying to get at here is that if Israel fails to obey God, God will cause them to be destroyed, and their "tale" will be a great "proverb" throughout all the world. In other words, if Israel failed to honor God and thus was destroyed, the nations would point to them as an example or proverb of what happens when one disobeys God. YIKES! I don't know about you, but that sounds like the opposite of what God wanted for the nation of Israel.

So, in response to our study today: don't be a proverb! If you disobey God, there is no promise of blessing for you. However, there is a promise of bad witness. When we claim that we love and obey God yet fail to honor him with our lives, the people around us consider us nothing but a bad proverb. If we call ourselves Christians but run after the things of this world, we are hypocrites, and people around us will see that. Surely after God brings destruction upon us for our transgressions, people will point their fingers at us and claim that destruction is all that comes from those who dishonor the Lord. Is that the witness you want to have? Would you not want to have a witness that says, "I truly follow after the Lord, and all is well with my soul"?