VII.
In the last post we focused on sin, today as you return to this passage let this phrase guide you through Solomon’s prayer,

“O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and steadfast love with your servants …”

What else do you hear about the covenant keeping God?

VIII..
1 Kings 8:22–24, 37–39, 46, 48–50a (NRSVue)

Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands to heaven. He said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and steadfast love with your servants who walk before you with all their heart, the covenant that you kept for your servant my father David as you declared to him; you promised with your mouth and have this day fulfilled with your hand.

“If there is famine in the land, if there is plague, blight, mildew, locust, or caterpillar; if their enemy besieges them in any of their cities; whatever suffering, whatever sickness there is; whatever prayer, whatever plea there is from any individual or from all your people Israel, all knowing the suffering of their own hearts so that they stretch out their hands toward this house; then hear in heaven your dwelling place, forgive, act, and render to all whose hearts you know—according to all their ways, for only you know the human heart

“If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near,

if they repent with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive and pray to you toward their land that you gave to their ancestors, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name, then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea, maintain their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you and all their transgressions that they have committed against you, and grant them compassion in the sight of their captors, so that they may have compassion on them.

IX.
Solomon speaks of the covenant being “… this day fulfilled …”

It also seemed to expect those in the covenant to “walk before you with all their heart…”

One more question – How does “if they repent with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies…” relate to the covenant?

Hold those thoughts – covenant keeping God, walking before God with all their heart, sin, and repentance – and consider how they find deep resonance in your life.

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}