Day 24 of 90 - 1 Kings 2 - 1 Kings 10

Day 24 - COMPLETE!

On Day 24, we completed 1 Kings 2 - 1 Kings 10, and the thing I love most about Solomon in these chapters, was that he was a man of priorities. When I read 1 Kings 6 and 7, I realized that he was in charge of building God’s temple, and building his palace. But he chose to build God’s temple first in Chapter 6, before he built his own house in Chapter 7. 1 Kings 6:38 tells us that “in the eleventh year in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the temple was finished in all its details... He had spent seven years building it.” When you really pay attention to the ornamentation and detail attached to this temple, you know this wasn’t a rush job. And Solomon took seven years to make sure God’s house was completed before he started on his own.

What I heard God say as I read this was ‘order matters. Build God’s house first before you build yours.” Take care of God’s mission before you focus on yours. Seek God’s Kingdom first before you rush to your to-do list. Check “his book” before facebook. It’s a simple choice but it has major implications. When I call my daughter into the kitchen to eat dinner, I fix her plate before mine because I want to make sure she’s good before I focus on me. In the same way, God commands us to seek him first. He doesn’t require that we seek him only, but in seeking him first, we ensure that our priorities are in order. I wonder what would’ve happened if we didn’t spend years seeking our agenda before God’s. I wonder how much money we could’ve saved, and how many relationships we would’ve been protected from, if we had placed God’s needs over and above our own.

Not only did Solomon build the temple, but he completed it. I have grown so weary of people (including myself) starting strong but not completing anything they start. I have learned to make more moves and less announcements; to focus more on completion than confession. It’s when we talk about what we are going to do, that we waste time on all the wrong things. What is pending in your life that you haven’t completed? It may take 7 years to do, but the best time to begin…is now!