“Hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel and bring them back to the land You gave their fathers” (1 Kings 8:34).

As we continue our walk through the Old Testament, focusing on the Big Story of God’s Faithfulness, we come to King Solomon’s dedication of the temple (this week’s passage is 1 Kings 8). By now, Solomon is in the eleventh year of his forty-year reign. Solomon had prayed for wisdom to rule, God granted it, and He’s been faithful to honor Solomon’s dependence on Him with years of prosperity and peace for Israel. When Solomon dedicates the temple, he praises God: “Not one word has failed of all His good promises” (v.56). God's faithfulness to the promises He made to Abraham includes a nation too numerous to count, life in the Promised Land, and blessings for the nations around them. 

God was faithful to Israel even when they decided their own path was the better one to follow. Solomon knows his people’s successes and failures. But he also knows they have a covenant-keeping God who always responds to His people’s cries of repentance and returns them to Himself. Such faithfulness is the essence of Solomon’s lengthy prayer dedicating the temple. Six times before he gets to the meat of his prayer, Solomon highlights how God faithfully keeps His promises (1 Kings 8:15, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26).

 Solomon then anticipates his people’s future failures: military defeat (v.33), drought and plagues (vs.35-37), even exile (vs.46-47) all because of their sin. “Sinned against You” is the refrain of every point in his prayer. Solomon pleads with God, not once but five times, to hear when his people cry out in repentance. He begs Him to forgive and return them back to Himself and their land. He reminds God of His promises, underscoring His faithfulness despite the failures He knows will come.

Lest they think God’s faithfulness is Israel’s “get-out-of-jail-free card,” though, Solomon follows the prayer with a significant caveat: “‘But your hearts must be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by His decrees and obey His commands’” (v.61, emphasis mine). God’s covenant has two parties.

Lest we think God’s faithfulness is our “free pass,” that we can give God lip service but do what we want, figuring He’ll forgive when we do get around to repenting and returning, let’s remember this: disobedience has consequences. And who knows how long they’ll last. The Jewish people will spend 70 years in exile.

Don’t we, though, as God’s people today, also suffer spiritual defeat, endure physical hardship, and forego blessings when we follow our own path? And do we then wonder why God is slow to forgive and restore us? We know He’s faithful; why isn’t He acting now? Well, what if He’s waiting for a genuinely sorrowful heart, humbly seeking His grace and forgiveness? God won’t force us to return to Him, and our return must be sincere. Maybe it took the Israelites two entire generations to cry out to God in the right way. 

God, have mercy on us when we’re that stubborn, and forgive us when we take Your faithfulness for granted. 

“‘Return to me,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will return to you’” (Malachi 3:7). Do you see yourself in Solomon’s prayer, knowing God is faithful but following a cycle of rebellion, crying out, then being restored? Let Solomon’s prayer be yours today. In Jesus’ name, we can pray for victory and healing before we sin. And when we do sin, we can rush headlong toward our Savior in repentance, crying out because we know He is faithful, always faithful, to hear.