Living in the Spirit
August 10, 2015
Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14
Then David slept with his ancestors, and was buried in the city of David. The time that David reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned for seven years in Hebron, and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David; and his kingdom was firmly established.
And Solomon said, ‘You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart towards you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. –1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:6
Upon the death of King David and Solomon’s resulting assent to the throne, Solomon recognizes God’s love for King David and his character in relationship to God. Solomon saw his father as faithful, righteous, and upright in heart toward God. These are the same traits we are called to demonstrate through our lives with God and with one another as children of God. Now history may view David somewhat differently than his youngest son who knew him in the last half of his life. There is no question David was a powerful King whose reign lifted Israel to the status of empire. There is also no question that he got to this position in some instances via any means necessary. While David, like all of us, was certainly not perfect, he never seem to waiver from being faithful to God.
David was gifted with the vision of a better world. The song, The Impossible Dream from the musical Man of La Mancha reminds us that we are all called to work toward a better world. Consider these words today.
To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go
To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star
This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far
To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march into Hell
For a heavenly cause
And I know if I’ll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I’m laid to my rest
And the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star
Prayer: Lord, grant us each the vision to make the world a better place by our constantly striving for what may seem to be an unreachable star but our knowing that all things are possible through you. Amen.