Where My Hope Is Found (1 Chron. 17:11-14)

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I long for a heart like David’s after God’s own heart, but Solomon’s story offers me hope. For many years as I have read in the Old Testament it has disturbed me, Solomon’s lapse in following after God whole-heartedly (unlike his father before him), his taking on the ways of the world when the God of the universe was steadfastly on his side.

Don’t misunderstand me, the hope I have isn’t in Solomon but rather in God’s affirmation to his servant David that He would bless him through Solomon to the point that not only would Solomon build the house David longed to build for God, but God would be a father to Solomon and his son and wouldn’t take away His steadfast love and mercy from him as He had done from Saul who was rejected by God when he strayed:


I declare to you [David] that the Lord will build you a house: when your days have been completed and you must join your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you who will be one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He it is who shall build me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me, and I will not withdraw my favor from him as I withdrew it from the one who was before you; but I will maintain him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be firmly established forever. (1 Chron. 17:11-14)

God had gifted Solomon with wisdom beyond understanding and Solomon began well, having been given the privilege and motivation and ability and abundant resources with which to build God’s house, yet he became unfaithful, falling prey to the world’s alluring and adulterous accolades and to the women he married (can anyone even imagine 700 princess wives and 300 concubines in one palace?) and clung to in love (1 Kings 11:2), even embracing their gods and “going after” them (1 Kings 11:5-6).  

Maybe by this point you are wondering where the hope is? As I said, my hope isn’t in Solomon but in God who is ever faithful to His Word. He chose Solomon from among David’s sons. God established Solomon, calling him His son, giving him unfailing love and mercy not removed even when Solomon acted the way God in His omnipotence knew that he would before the calling. This is the God I serve, the One who calls me child because of Christ’s work done long before my birth, not because of anything I have done, am doing, or will ever do. 

I have no more ability to be faithful to God than Solomon did in his own flesh. I have the same tent to dwell in, the same heart that is deceitful above all things, the same eyes that long for the things of the world that are abundant, the same lusts of the flesh that can easily knock me off course. What I do have that Solomon did not is Christ in me, my hope of glory. He is my hope, my salvation, my desire forever. Solomon has broken my heart for years, this son of David who had everything he needed for salvation at his beck and call, but now I understand that he was a tool in the hands of God who loved David, saw past his son’s weaknesses, and looked forward to Christ, the king who would be established though David’s line, the eternal king to come, the Christ who has a heart beyond even David’s for God.

My faithful God kept his word to David even when Solomon faltered in his faithlessness because of His love for David. In that love we are blessed with compassion and mercy beyond comprehension. When I walked in sin, even then God loved me and saw Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and did not reject me forever but instead accepted Christ’s blood that has washed me clean. 

My hope and salvation is in Christ, not in David or Solomon (heart-breaker that he proved to be). In Christ alone I will trust, understanding that He takes my unfaithful, sinful heart and replaces it with a heart for Him, sustains me with His everlasting love, and upholds me with His strong right hand. I sit today before this same God whom David sat before in wonder that He would do such a thing for me. To God be the glory forever and ever.

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In the Valley of Vision, I read a prayer yesterday, and part of it made me think of David and Solomon as well as the blessings I have in Christ: 

I am ready to flee from myself because of my abominations; yet thou dost not abhor me but have devised means for my return to thee, and that, by thy Son who died to give me life. Thine honor is secured and displayed even in my escape from thy threats, and that, by means of Jesus in whom mercy and truth meet together and righteousness and peace kiss each other [Ps. 85:10]. In him the enslaved find redemption, the guilty pardon, the unholy renovation; in him are everlasting strength for the weak, unsearchable riches for the needy, treasures of wisdom and knowledge for the ignorant, fullness for the empty. (21)

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