“1. Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die; and he charged Solomon his son, saying, 2. I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself a man; 3. And keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgements, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and withersoever thou turnest thyself: 4. That the Lord may continue his word which he spake concerning me, saying, If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee (said he) a man on the throne of Israel.”
As king David passes off the scene he leaves a charge for his son Solomon to walk in strength as the new king. He lays out a very clear guideline concerning how he should live and how he should lead. Walking in the ways of the Lord is a must, there is no other way to live! The law of Moses is the first five books of the Bible; Genesis through Deuteronomy. Today we have even more than what David and Solomon had, we have the entire Bible: Genesis through Revelation. If we are not careful we can find ourselves living in spiritual deadness because we fail to do what verse 4 says: “to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul,”. King David was telling Solomon here that, yes, its important to live by these great laws God has given us, but you must do it with all your heart and all your soul. This is the area we tend to fail in as believers sometimes, or even many times. For example: Hebrews 10:25 “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together…” The Bible teaches us that Sunday is the day we gather with other believers and worship Jesus Christ. Do you ever find yourself in the Sunday morning service dreaming about the deer stand? You say within yourself, “I could be hunting right now!” Its good that your in church, but are you serving God with all your heart and with all your soul? If you are, your focus shouldn’t be on things outside of the church house. Another example could be tithing. Looking at the book of beginnings we find ourselves in the book of Genesis. Jacob, who’s name was later called Israel shows us that tithing was set in place from the beginning; Genesis 28:22 “And this stone , which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.” Now lets jump forward to II Corinthians 9:7 “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” Malachi 3 tells us that when we don’t tithe(tithe is a tenth) that we rob from God. Jacob showed us that God first gives to us and then we return to him a tenth. Now back to the example; we can tithe out of duty, but if we aren’t doing it with a willing heart we are not serving God with all our heart and all our soul. Everything we do in righteousness should be with all of our hearts! Solomon did good for a while, but at the end of his leadership he failed God because there were areas in his life that wasn’t with heart and soul service. God pulled the kingdom from his son’s hand and Israel began to see many wicked kings reign. The word all has a simple definition: completely; entirely. Colossians 3:17 “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.” How is your service today? Even though you may make right decisions; are you serving him with all your heart and all your soul?
