The books of Samuel and Kings point to both the best of times and worst of times for the Jews. When God appoints David as king, the Jews enjoy a great time of peace and rest in the promised land. When David’s son Solomon succeeds him, he builds the Temple, which is the first permanent structure which the Jews have to go and worship God. The peace and rest which the Jews have is directly tied to who they worship. At this point they are worshipping the one true God who has led them out of Egypt, and both David and Solomon are leading the way, knowing that it’s only through God that they are as successful as they are.

The tide turns however when King Solomon, the one who is supposed to lead the people, grows older, and marries a bunch of women from foreign nations, who all have their own gods that they worship. It says the Solomon’s heart was turned away from the one true God, to the many other different gods which his wives worshiped. The time of peace and rest comes to an end after Solomon’s death, the people are confused as to which god is true, and the once united kingdom of Israel splits into two. the nothen part includes ten of the twelve tribes is called Israel, and the the remaining two tribes is called Judah. The northern kingdom is set into major strife and struggle with several different ruling families which come to conquer the throne of that Kingdom, while the family of David maintains rule in the south. Eventually the northern kingdom is conquered by an outside country and those people are sent into exile from the Promised Land. About 200 years later the kingdom of Judah is conquered, and the great temple that was built was destroyed, and those people were exiled also.

So what bearing does this have on our lives today? The question for us is, who do we worship? When the united kingdom of Israel worshipped the one true God, God was on their side and provided protection from all enemies, however when they turned away from him, he left them to their own vices, and that left them prone to attack and eventually being carried off.

When our lives are governed by the one true God, our souls are protected for eternity. In this world there will be suffering and hardship, that is a guarantee, however no matter how much you are beaten down by others, no matter how much disease ravages your body, God is there to protect you heart. We need to turn to him and serve him every moment of the day. And so how our worship goes as husbands, there are wives will go. So how our worship goes as parents, so our families will go. So how our worship goes as members of Mountaintop, so will the church go.

The only one who we can be responsible for is ourselves. We cannot change the external factors of this world, but we can choose to worship the one true God, and not the gods of money, of television, of discontent, of addictions. I pray for all of you today that you can catch a glimpse of God’s love as you submit yourselves to him.