1 Kings 8:61-66: a reflection

61“Let your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as it is today.” 62The king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the LORD. 63Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the LORD, twenty two thousand head of cattle and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the LORD’s house. 64The same day the king made the middle of the court holy that was before the LORD’s house; for there he offered the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the LORD was too little to receive the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings. 65So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt, before the LORD our God, seven days and seven more days, even fourteen days. 66On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad in their hearts for all the goodness that the LORD had shown to David his servant, and to Israel his people.

As Solomon finishes dedicating the temple, he leaves the people with an exhortation: Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes and to keep his commandments. He calls them not to a divided or partial devotion, but to a whole heart, fully given to God; and he defines what a whole heart looks like: it walks in God's ways and keeps his commandments. Wholehearted devotion is shown in how we walk.

Notice how Solomon joins the whole heart with the daily walk. A heart wholly true to God is not merely a feeling of devotion; it shows itself in walking in God's ways and keeping his commandments. The proof of a whole heart is a life that follows God's ways, day by day; devotion that does not walk in obedience is not the wholehearted devotion Solomon calls for. The whole heart and the faithful walk go together.

That guards us against a common mistake: imagining that wholehearted devotion to God is mainly a matter of strong feeling, apart from how we actually live. But Solomon calls for a heart wholly true to God, shown in walking in his ways. Real devotion is not only felt but lived, expressed in obedience, in the daily following of God's ways. Give God not a divided or merely emotional devotion, but a whole heart, and let that whole heart be shown in how you walk. Do not settle for feelings of devotion without a life of obedience; let your heart be wholly true to God, and prove it by walking in his ways and keeping his commandments, day by day. The whole heart shows itself in the faithful walk.

Lord, Solomon exhorted the people to let their hearts be wholly true to you, and to show it by walking in your statutes and keeping your commandments; he joined the whole heart with the daily walk. Guard me against imagining that wholehearted devotion to you is mainly a matter of strong feeling, apart from how I actually live. A heart wholly true to you is not merely a feeling of devotion; it shows itself in walking in your ways and keeping your commandments. The proof of a whole heart is a life that follows you, day by day; devotion that does not walk in obedience is not the wholehearted devotion Solomon calls for. Help me give you not a divided or merely emotional devotion, but a whole heart, and let that whole heart be shown in how I walk. Keep me from settling for feelings of devotion without a life of obedience; help my heart be wholly true to you, and prove it by walking in your ways and keeping your commandments, day by day. Let my whole heart show itself in a faithful walk.