“Blessed be the Lord, your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel. Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness.”
– 1 Kings 10:9
Now, this sounds like language coming from someone who knows God intimately here in 1 Kings 10:9, blessed to be God, who’s delighted in you, set you on the throne of Israel because the Lord loves Israel. He has made you king, talking to Solomon, that you may execute justice and righteousness, but what’s interesting about this verse is this language is coming from Queen Sheba, a pagan queen, from a place that worships foreign gods, is coming to Solomon, seeing his wisdom, seeing the way he is executing justice and righteousness. And what is she doing? She’s giving glory to Yahweh, to God.
God’s Blessings Over People Is Found Throughout Scripture
Oh, don’t miss the picture here. It’s what we see all over the Bible. God blesses his people for the spread of his glory to all peoples. God gives Solomon wisdom to execute justice and righteousness. Why? Yes, for Solomon’s good. Yes, for the good of the people of Israel. But ultimately for the glory of God among the nations so that a pagan queen would come and declare, “Blessed be the Lord, your God.” So that the nations might see the goodness and the greatness and the glory of God in his blessing on his people. Do you see that God’s blessing is never intended to center on us? His blessing is always intended to spread through us, specifically to spread through us to the nations.
This is what we see from the very beginning, Genesis chapter 12, when God says, “Abraham, I’m going to bless you so that through you and your family, all the peoples, all the nations and the families of the earth would be blessed.” Consequently, we know this is where all his history is headed. “Every nation, tribe and tongue,” Revelation seven, “gathered around the throne of God, singing praises to him for his goodness and his grace and his salvation.”
So God’s purpose is to bless his people for the spread of his glory to all peoples. Do you see it? Global mission is not like a compartmentalized program in the church for a select few people who care about that. Global mission is the purpose of God in the world and it’s the reason why you and I have been saved. For the spread of his glory to the nations. It’s what Jesus just told us. Go and make disciples of all the nations.
1 Kings 10:9 Reminds Us of God’s Blessings in Our Lives
I know we talk about this on this podcast. We pray accordingly often, but it’s because we’re so prone to miss it. The global purpose of God always faces resistance from the comfortable people of God. So we must always, when we see this picture, which we see all over the Bible, stop and pray. So God help us to connect your blessing with its intended purpose. Your blessing in our lives, your salvation in our lives, your goodness in our lives. Alll the resources you’ve given us.
So every good thing we have, we know is not intended to stop with us. That it’s intended to spread through us, your blessing to be made known among more and more people, among people who are far from you. Right around us. So God, we pray that you help us to be faithful in sharing the gospel today and somebody else to point other people to Jesus this week in our lives. And God, to point people far from us like Queen Sheba here, God, point people, men, women, and children, and leaders from other nations to see and to know you, to praise and exalt you.
Prayer That God’s Name Is Exalted Among the Parai People of Afghanistan
God, we pray today specifically for the Parachi people of Afghanistan. God, this small people group, we intercede for right now, most of whom are north of Kabal in the Hindu Kush Valley, Sunni Muslims among whom there is no known follower of Jesus. So, God, we pray for the spread of your glory among the Parachi people of Afghanistan. So God, unite our hearts right now and pray that you would bring it about the Parachi people in Afghanistan. That they would speak as Queen Sheba did here. That they would give blessing and honor and glory to your name.
Jesus, that you would be exalted among the Parachi people of Afghanistan and God among all the peoples of the world. We pray for this and we pray, God, that you would use our lives toward this and use our families toward this, and use our churches toward this end, that more and more people and more and more nations because of our praying like we are right now, because of our giving of our resources, because of our going, sending, and our disciple-making in our lives, our families and our churches, that more and more people and more and more nations would say, “Blessed be the Lord God. Glory be to his name. Honor be to the name of Jesus.” In his name, we pray these things. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
