Day 9

Judah and Israel’s Kings

from the reading plan


1 Kings 14:21-31, 1 Kings 15:1-34, 1 Kings 16:1-34, 2 Samuel 7:14-17, Isaiah 41:28-29


God is always, without a doubt, faithful to His Word.

Would you agree with that statement? Scripture is a historical account of His faithfulness to His people, even when they are not faithful to Him. But if we’re honest, it becomes harder to affirm the truth of God’s faithfulness in day-to-day life, especially when everything around us seems to be falling apart. Our trust can begin to falter in the face of our own failures and the failures of others. Perhaps even more difficult to bear are those circumstances where no one is clearly to blame. Still, God’s promises are always a more reliable anchor of reality than our current situations. Circumstances change, but God does not, which means we can trust His Word, even when we cannot see His hand at work.

In making His covenant with David, God made this promise: “When your time comes and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up after you your descendant, who will come from your body… and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever” and “my faithful love will never leave him” (2 Samuel 7:12–13,15). Therefore, the line of succession was established and it maintained rule over God’s people as God promised. In 1 Kings 15, we read that it was “for the sake of David” that the Lord “gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up his son after him and preserving Jerusalem” (v.4). This is a reminder, a testament, of God’s faithfulness to His people.

This narrative is also proof that God was faithful to His earlier promise in Genesis 49, that “the scepter [would] not depart from Judah” (v.10). And God did not depart from this promise. In fact, 1 Kings is primarily a narrative about the unfaithfulness of God’s people, which, ultimately, brought about division and even warfare. In other words, the very survival of the kingdom was solely dependent on God’s faithfulness to the covenant promise He made to David.

This is an important reminder for us all; we should not rely on our own understanding of the circumstances that surround us, but instead rest and trust “on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). After all, our sin, the greatest conflict we will ever face, has already been dealt with on the cross of Christ. Though we have been unfaithful, the line of David was providentially protected by God to bring about the rightful heir to the throne, Jesus Christ. In preserving David’s line, God wasn’t just preserving Jerusalem; He was preserving the line through which Christ would come to rule as eternal King, granting us citizenship in His eternal kingdom, new Jerusalem.

Whatever circumstances you are facing today, God is faithful and worthy of your trust. He has providentially overseen the trajectory of entire nations and directed the hearts of kings to bring about His purposes. Surely He is willing and able to keep His promises to you and me.

Written by Matt Capps

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