TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
“I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. As for you, if you walk before me faithfully as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to rule over Israel.’ But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why he brought all this disaster on them.” (2 Chronicles 7:16-22)
God’s promises frequentlycontain both a blessing and a curse. A blessing if we heed the word of God, and a curse if we disobey. After the dedication of the Temple that Solomon built, the Lord appeared to him at night and spoke the words that comprise today’s scripture. God promises Solomon that, if he remains faithful, the royal line of David will never end. But, conversely, if King Solomon abandons the instructions of the Lord, leading Israel to serve other gods and idols, the blessings of God will cease. And…even the consecrated Temple of the Lord will be left as a pile of rubble. This serves as a stern warning to us against prioritizing anything over our relationship with God. Perhaps this is why the very first of the Ten Commandments reads, “You shall have no other Gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3)