Multitude of His Mercies/Your Heart is His!!

Today I read in the accounts of Kings, the life of Solomon. It is sad to observe that though Solomon was loved deeply by God and was called ‘Jeddiah’ - meaning ‘beloved of the Lord’, Solomon in his latter days did not follow in all the righteous ways like his father David did.  The observations I am making here between David and Solomon are, though David committed sins and made terrible mistakes in his life journey, never once in his life did he give his heart or a place in his heart for anybody else but God.  On the other hand Solomon though he loved God, gave his heart away to things, power, women and followed after the idols of gods/goddess’s of other nations. In spite of being the wisest and the smartest man on planet earth Solomon’s life ended tragically, I say tragically because he left the path of following God and lost his heart,  exchanged it with perishable things of this world. Somehow, I know Solomon knew this, but was lazy or had traveled so far away from God that he didn't take corrective action. At least the Bible doesn't reveal to us that he did.

Yet, God in his mercy told Solomon that for his servant David’s sake He will not take away his kingdom in his life time but his kingdom nevertheless will get divided into ten smaller kingdoms and will be taken away from his son.  We see the fulfillment of what the Lord had said in Rehoboam – Solomon’s son’s life.  However, during Solomon’s own lifetime God had raised up men who were rebellious to Solomon and cause him lot of anguish during his rule.  And that brings us to the discovery I made in the reading this morning…

Edomites were a group of people that came from Esau’s lineage, we know God had chosen Jacob/Isarel over Esau as the chosen one for the scriptures say:

Romans 9:13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

Esau married pagan women and the Edomites came into existence. However the Edomites were blood brothers to Israel, they surface from time to time as arch rivals and enemies in various battles throughout Israel’s history. But it is during David’s time, Joab the commander of the armies of David almost routs out this race. He kills all the Edomite men and women; the race is almost obliterated. I say 'almost' because, God in his mercy had spared a boy called ‘Hadad’, who had fled to Egypt, grew up in Pharaoh’s household and married the sister of  Queen Tahpanhes. When Hadad learns about Joab’s and King David’s death, he returns as a grown young man to Edom and becomes a a life-long thorn in Solomon’s flesh during the latter's reign..

Why am I relating this obscure event here? I think it is important to observe and learn the working of our God and the multitude of His mercies even to his Gentiles. Though he loves his children deeply and expects a very high standard from them, He is long suffering, waits patiently, corrects us, judges us, justifies us and redeems us. I see God’s mercy on Abraham’s seed even in the sparing of Hadad’s life. Edom as a people group almost vanished because of the generational sins but for the mercy of God on Abraham’s seed. We also see Solomon is corrected by the Lord, he does not turn his ways, yet God has raised problems that surround him in his life time. We see this time and again in Israel’s history as a chosen people as well as a nation, when they surrendered and followed God as their first love, no one could stand up against them. But when they went seeking after other idols and other gods, they were not only judged but lost their standing with God. Yet God was merciful and kept on loving them unconditionally.

So what am I learning; apart from the enjoying the mercies of my God, the teaching here is simple and the lesson very important: Instead of identifying our hearts with His, we identify ourselves to things, people, idols, and other gods that distract and take our attention from Him; ultimately we stray and exchange our hearts for something else.  But Friends, we know our hearts are won and He is worthy to have it in complete surrender and complete devotion. I think it is the best place to be, the coolest dwelling place, it is a place when you will see the cup overflowing with His goodness and mercies. Now I understand why the Psalmist sings:

“Surely Goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life”

Blessings & Shalom,

Sam Kurien