First Kings
Friday, August 6, 2010
Not One Word
(I Kings 8:54-61)
Life comes with a lot of limited warranties. Store clerks press consumers to purchase product guarantees that run beyond the standard warranties, warning customers that their best products are bound to fail at some point. For years it was rumored that automobile manufacturers built decay into their products in order to insure repeat purchases in the future. Even the best warranties come with fine print—often so limiting as to void the warranty before the product leaves the sales floor. In short, the promises, guarantees, and warranties of this world frequently are not worth the paper on which they’re printed. Horror stories abound; ask anyone.
In refreshing contrast to the world’s shaky promises, Solomon testified of God’s fidelity to His word. In verse 56 Solomon boldly proclaimed, “…there hath not failed one word of all his good promise which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.” Think about it: Not one word that God promised slipped away unfulfilled. Remember, too, that Moses’ predictions for his fledgling nation were vast—reaching far beyond Solomon’s time and even our own. In a sense, Solomon invited the Israelites to check the record. They could go back to the words of Moses and see if God had been faithful to His promises. Without exception, God had kept His word.
Not only had God kept His word, but the fulfillment of God’s promises was easily verifiable by Solomon. Solomon took God’s promises literally and expected a literal fulfillment. God never failed to deliver in a fashion easily verifiable by a man simply reading his Bible.
Solomon’s words remind us of the words of Jesus. He said, “...Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Mt. 5:18). In other words, Jesus Christ verified God’s fidelity in fulfilling the smallest detail of His word. God keeps His promises. You can safely trust in Him.
