“So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his rule was firmly established.”
Solomon cleans house.
My brother and I were rebuilding an engine back in the day. We had already replaced most of parts and it came time to put the oil pan and the valve covers back on. Any good mechanic knows that you need a gasket between the oil pan and the engine block and likewise between the value covers and the engine block. Well, over the course of time, the old gaskets had gotten hard and stuck to the engine block. We were told by our now brother in law, Danny Strickland, that you need to clean the old gasket off before you put the new one on or it will leak. We obeyed Danny and cleaned all the old gaskets off using putty knives and elbow grease. It took awhile but we got it done. Any part of the old gasket had to be removed so that the new gasket could properly seal the joint.
In 1 Kings chapter 2, Solomon becomes the king of Israel after his father passes away. Before he died, David gave Solomon some good wisdom. He commanded him to follow all of the laws of the Lord, be strong, and walk in obedience (verses 2-4). After this, David reminds Solomon of all the men that have betrayed him over the years and he tells Solomon to bring justice to them. Solomon obeys his father and goes about putting to death all of the rotten men that have filtered in over years under David’s reign. The last verse of chapter 2 ends in these words “The kingdom was now established in Solomon’s hands.”
Walking with the Lord means cleaning your life up and getting rid of toxic friends. You know, those friends who pull you gently away from God and want to drag you foolishly into folly as it says in Proverbs. Solomon’s kingdom was not “established” until all those toxic people were gone. The Lord wants to do something big in your life but continuing to defend your relationship with toxic friends will only give you heart ache and pain. That is what happened under David’s rule. These men Solomon killed only caused David pain while he reigned. Make sure today that you have a godly group of counselors you go to for advice about your issues. Proverbs 26:11 says ” As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.” Don’t be the fool following the fool into folly. Go to godly men or women who can breath life into your complicated situation and pray that the Lord will guide you.
Prayer: Father help us have the discernment to identify the toxic people in our lives and the courage to get rid of them. Help us stand firmly on your promises that are in your Word and forget the foolish advice we have listened to from these toxic people. We all have a fresh start every day because your Word says that your mercies are new every morning. I pray that we start every day by speaking the promises of the God instead of speaking the lies the enemy puts in our head. In James, it tells us that there is the power of life and death in our tongues. I pray that we speak life in Jesus name, amen.
Let It Go 
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