THE BELOVED, LOVED

Today is Friday.  For the first day all week.... it is beautiful outside.  We have had two days of snow in Spring!  But today is a clear, sunny day.  There is still frost on the ground, so I know that it is cold outside, but it will warm up and be a lovely day.  Today I have a truth about Solomon. 

THE BELOVED, LOVED- Solomon was the second child by Bathsheba and King David.  The first child died as a punishment of their sin.  The child was born, but soon died.  The child still went to Paradise to await Heaven, (as all aborted and young children who die, do; except now they go straight to Heaven!)  After the first child died, they later had another on the way that was born a healthy boy.  In II Samuel 12: 24, they named him Solomon.  It reads:  "and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon:  and the LORD loved him."  Now, in the next verse we see that God gives Solomon a name as well.  (25) "And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet; and he called his name Jedidiah, because of the LORD."  The word "Jedidiah" means:  "Beloved of the LORD".  What a special privilege to be named by God and be called "Beloved of the LORD".  Wow!  But, you know..... so are we!  Yes, we are loved of the LORD as well.  Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so...  Jesus loves us all, and so He loved Solomon, or Jedidiah.  But the Beloved, loved.  In I Kings 3:3, it reads:  "And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father:"  Solomon loved the LORD!  The Beloved of the LORD, loved the LORD.  Now isn't that what God wants from us?  God loving us is a given; but our loving Him is not.  One is expected, and one should be but isn't.  We should all love the LORD our God with all we are.  He desires it from us and wants to see that love expressed.  Solomon expressed that love in His obedience:  "walking in the statutes of David his father."  Not platitudes, but obedience to God's will and Word.  Let us who are Beloved, also be those who LOVE the LORD our God!!

Hope you have a blessed day!!  Pastor Mike Mutchler