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God shed his grace on thee. Hard to
think about that phrase without the melody of “America the
Beautiful” going through our heads, isn’t it? Living at the
point of our nation’s history when we do, we’d like to think our
nation holds a favored place in God’s scheme of things. Well,
maybe it does and maybe it doesn’t. I can’t say for sure.
History will tell. But I can say for sure we can make our nation
have a favored place in God’s scheme of things. All we have to do
is learn from history, not the slanted or revisionist mumbo-jumbo
that sometimes passes for objective history today, but we can learn
from the true, accurate and inspired sacred history of the Bible.
Look at a time during the life of God’s people here on earth where
all ages would agree
God Shed His Grace on Thee
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From altar (1-9)
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To everywhere (10-28)
With the reign of King Solomon, we are
in the Golden Age of Israel. The hard-scrabble, rags to riches days
of David are done. It is time for the next generation to enjoy what
their parents have worked so hard for. The Lord appears to Solomon a
second time. The first time he had appeared to Solomon was at the
start of his reign. Solomon asked for wisdom and the Lord gave it to
him. Twenty years later, when Solomon had completed his building
projects, the Lord appears again. Here’s the gist of what God told
Solomon.
“If you walk before me in integrity
of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I
command and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal
throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father. But if
you or your sons turn away from me and do not observe the commands
and decrees I have given you and go off to serve other gods and
worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given
them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name.
Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all
peoples (4-7).”
God’s promise to Solomon had strings
attached. Solomon was to worship the Lord whole-heartedly, not to
serve other gods. So were Solomon’s sons who would reign after
him. If they did this, then (and only then) would God continue to
let a son of Solomon rule over the nation in Palestine. But if they
didn’t live up to their part of the bargain, God would drive them
out of the Promised Land and destroy this temple where people were
learning about his love and forgiveness.
You know the history as well as I. The
glory of Solomon’s rule was destroyed, carried away to pagan cities
by conquering armies. The kings of Israel and Judah would turn away
from the Lord. They would neglect his laws. Everything they had
worked for would be gone. Even what was most sacred, most holy, the
Temple itself, would be burned and torn down.
God wanted his grace to shine out from
the altar in Jerusalem to everywhere and for most of Solomon’s
reign, it did. But it wasn’t automatic. God rewards faithfulness
with earthly blessings, most of which do not carry a price tag.
A particularly witty congressional
chaplain once opened a session of the Senate with the prayer, “God,
bless the deliberations of this Senate and see what you can do with
the House of Representatives.”
I can’t daily do anything with the
House of Representatives either, and outside of voting and letter
writing, neither can you. But there’s something we can do every
day to secure the blessings of God’s grace for this country we love
so well. We can recognize our lives start at the altar of God and
mold our lives to show it.
Do we regularly attend worship services
to give praise and glory to God?
Do we bring our children to worship
services with us to give praise and glory to God?
Do we look at church for only what we
can get out of it or do we view worship for what we can put into it?
Do we regularly pray at home?
Do we regularly lead our family in
prayer at home?
Do we regularly talk about our faith at
home to our children?
If not, we are not building a stronger
America. If not, we are simply “spending the kid’s spiritual
inheritance,” like those obnoxious bumper stickers on a huge RV
pulling either a big boat or an SUV which proclaim, “Spending the
kids’ inheritance.” If not, we are cooperating with those who
want to tear this country apart from the outside, only we are doing
it from the inside and no earthly government has the power to put us
into Guantanamo for what we’re doing to the moral fiber of this
nation.
But if we are, or if we resolve today
to stop putting bed or boat, weekend getaways or work ahead of
worship, then we can be confident that God will continue to shed his
grace on this great country of ours through the sacrifices his
Christians are willing to make for her safety, the hard work they
will put in to continue to build up this country, the compassion they
will contribute to shame, if need be, unbelievers into living
outwardly just and upright lives at the very least. That much is at
stake. Really. When it comes to Christ, we are really either with
him or against him. And those who are with him are with him in
worship.
God shed his grace on thee, from altar
to everywhere. It certainly showed in Solomon’s life, at least up
to the point of our text. He transformed Jerusalem, taking a hilltop
citadel and turning it into a showcase with Temple and Palace and
other governmental buildings. He built up cities in what had, up to
that time, been a largely rural countryside. He had literally armies
of laborers with a bevy of supervisors. He created foreign trade,
entering into a close alliance with King Hiram of Tyre, a long-time
friend of both Solomon’s father, King David, and the people of God,
not only for the building of the Temple but for an import-export
business that resulted a profit of tons of gold. Solomon even
enjoyed a long-lived Hollywood marriage to the Pharaoh’s daughter
whom he loved with all his heart. Happiness at home, success in the
public arena--who says you can’t have it all?
The first Psalm describes the lives of
the children of God who experience God’s grace first at the altar
and then throughout their lives. “Whatever he does prospers (Psalm
1.3).” Are we refugees, stripped of house and property and
everything we owned by the ravages of war, like Luzi Schumacher’s
family was when she came into our country fifty years ago? Hardly.
A roof over our head, air conditioning, vehicles, entertainment, too
much food for our own good. We have family and friends, children and
grandchildren and some of us have great-grandchildren. We have or
are contributing to society, making life better for those around us,
trying to be honest and fair in our dealings with others. No, we
aren’t as rich as that Buffet guy who is giving $80 billion dollars
away to charities, because “it’s a great way to earn heaven.”
And no, we’re not slated for a trip to the French Riviera right
after our appearance in the box seats next to the President at this
month’s All-Star game. We work hard, but we do have something to
show for it. We believe hard and we have even more to show for
that—godly children, a clean conscience before our God and a
blazing hope of eternal life in heaven. Isn’t that worth more than
being Brad Pitt’s next ex-wife?
God shed his grace on thee, on
everything you do. It’s not just a wish, not just a prayer, it’s
a blessing from the Lord who can do more than we can imagine.
God Shed His Grace on Thee
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From altar (1-9)
-
To everywhere (10-28)
Our country enjoys the blessings of
earthly freedom and liberty because previous generations were willing
to sacrifice everything to secure it. You and I, as Christians, also
enjoy the blessings of spiritual freedom and release from sin, death
and the devil because Jesus Christ made the ultimate sacrifice to
secure it for us. Those blessings are ours to pass on as well to
enjoy. But they are not automatic. We tsk-tsk those who seem to
take our country for granted. Don’t let the angels looking down
from heaven tsk-tsk our attitude towards God’s spiritual blessings.
Rev. Don Pieper is a minister in the
Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. He has devoted his life to
sharing the Gospel of Christ to all of Gods people. For more
information about the Green Valley Evangelical Lutheran Church visit
us at www.gvelc.com
or call 702-454-8979 .
Ask for Pastor Don or Pastor Matt. |
