November 27: 1 King 8:46-51

Key Verse: 1 King 8:50
And forgive your people, who have sinned against you; forgive all the offenses they have committed against you, and cause their captors to show them mercy

Devotion:
Solomon is known to us as being the wise king and these prayers lifted up to God at the time are a good example of his wisdom of the faithfulness of God and His willingness to forgive us when we submit to Him. We can relate to these words because we too face this sort of circumstance when we make enemies and treat them the way described here.

If we, being human, are willing to think about forgiveness even though we continue to sin ourselves, the how much more does God show forgiveness when we sin toward Him? When we have done wrong and we come forward asking for forgiveness from other people, we expect forgiveness in full – assuming we are sincere in our repenting! When we bring our sins to God and ask forgiveness, we should not expect anything less than being totally forgiven – assuming we are sincere in our repenting!

This prayer is lifted to God in heaven and pleads for forgiveness for anyone who is coming forward and asking it. Just as God showed the people mercy when they were lead out of captivity in Egypt, so too is Solomon asking God to extend His mercy once again… even though people have gone away, mixed with unbelievers and done many bad things…

Jesus Christ came to be the final sacrifice for all of our sins in the past and the future; He willingly gave His life to pay for our sins once and for all. Because of this, we should be willing to come forward and ask Chrit to forgive us for what we have done wrong. It is our act of coming forward and showing we are sincere in asking for forgiveness that will count. We do need to come forward and admit to the things we do wrong – because we all do things wrong – and expect nothing less than absolute forgiveness just as Solomon asks for here.

Points to Ponder:
How many things have you done wrong today?

Have you admitted to those things and brought them to Christ?