CARRYING ON A LEGACY

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The next day they made sacrifices to the Lord and presented burnt offerings to Him: a thousand bulls, a thousand rams and a thousand male lambs, together with their drink offerings, and other sacrifices in abundance for all Israel. They ate and drank with great joy in the presence of the Lord that day.

Then they acknowledged Solomon son of David as king a second time, anointing him before the Lord to be ruler and Zadok to be priest. So Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king in place of his father David. He prospered and all Israel obeyed him. All the officers and warriors, as well as all of King David’s sons, pledged their submission to King Solomon.

The Lord highly exalted Solomon in the sight of all Israel and bestowed on him royal splendor such as no king over Israel ever had before.

David son of Jesse was king over all Israel. He ruled over Israel forty years—seven in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem. He died at a good old age, having enjoyed long life, wealth and honor. His son Solomon succeeded him as king.

As for the events of King David’s reign, from beginning to end, they are written in the records of Samuel the seer, the records of Nathan the prophet and the records of Gad the seer, together with the details of his reign and power, and the circumstances that surrounded him and Israel and the kingdoms of all the other lands.

1 Chronicles 29:21-30

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As Father’s Day approaches, I find myself reflecting on my own father and the blessing he was to me. This August will mark the two year mark since he passed away and since that time, I have made an even greater effort to carry on his legacy of loving and caring for others.

My father had a heart for making a difference in the lives of others. Whether it was going out of his way to always help members of the union that elected him president when he worked at a plastic bottle cap manufacturing plant or selflessly giving of his time, money, and talent to charitably help people in need, my father was a man I was fortunate to call Dad.

I have been very privileged in my own life to be able to make a difference in the lives of countless others. Like my father, I was able to be in leadership positions that allowed me to aid people professionally and personally. And in my Christian walk, the Lord has placed gifts within me to use to His glory, ministering to those who need spiritual encouragement in word or song - whether writing this blog, teaching through the church, praying and counseling for people going through difficulty, preaching when called, or singing hymns and contemporary Christian music.

God is so good and I can’t thank and praise Him enough for all he has done to bless my life, to include giving me a special father and leading me to follow in his footsteps. I’m sure Solomon must have felt the same way as he assumed the throne of Israel as their king.

Solomon, like me, had a pretty special father named David. We know David was a man after God’s own heart, chosen by God to follow Saul as king and anointed as such by Samuel. His reign lasted forty years and scripture tells us he “died at a good old age, having enjoyed long life, wealth and honor.” With this, he obviously had left his throne having established an exceptional reputation for the position of king. This could only help his son Solomon who assumed his power and authority. And it wasn’t so much that the people exalted Solomon as he took over leadership of Israel but more importantly, the Lord exalted Him and as God’s word tells us “bestowed on him royal splendor such as no king over Israel ever had before.” In other words, Solomon was destined to be even greater than his father was.

That is the goal of anyone who seeks to carry on a legacy, isn’t it? The hope is to not only be as good as the one who preceded you but even better.

Well, Solomon certainly had a great deal to be thankful for. Ditto for all of Israel. And so after they had worshipped and praised God with all their hearts, they made sacrifices to Him and not just a few but many. Our passage tells us that the sacrifices included “a thousand bulls, a thousand rams and a thousand male lambs, together with their drink offerings, and other sacrifices in abundance.” This was accompanied by feasting and drinking “with great joy in the presence of the Lord” and a second acknowledgement of Solomon as king, “anointing him before the Lord to be ruler.” The governance of Israel had been passed on.

So how did things go for Solomon? Would David’s legacy continue?

Back to the scriptures where we’re told that Solomon “prospered and all Israel obeyed him” with all the officers, warriors, and David’s sons pledging their submission and allegiance to him. Just as they had done for his father David.

Sounds to me like all is off to a good start. The Lord and the Israelites are fully behind Solomon as king. Now it’s up to him to not only carry on David’s legacy but also establish his own. As we look into 2 Chronicles, I think we’ll discover he fine at achieving both.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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