“But the Lord said to me, ‘You have killed many men in the battles you have fought. And since you have shed so much blood in my sight, you will not be the one to build a Temple to honor my name. But you will have a son who will be a man of peace. I will give him peace with his enemies in all the surrounding lands. His name will be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel during his reign. He is the one who will build a Temple to honor my name. He will be my son, and I will be his father. And I will secure the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’
“Now, my son, may the Lord be with you and give you success as you follow his directions in building the Temple of the Lord your God. And may the Lord give you wisdom and understanding, that you may obey the Law of the Lord your God as you rule over Israel. For you will be successful if you carefully obey the decrees and regulations that the Lord gave to Israel through Moses. Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or lose heart!

1 Chronicles 22:8-13

We sometimes look into the Bible to find heroes, examples we can follow of great people in our Spiritual history. We find some like David and we may get the impression that he was great because of the many battles he won and the strength he displayed.

David in the above passage says the opposite; what God wants out of his leaders is peace. Peace with God in following his word and peace with people around him, not shedding much blood.

But still, David was a great leader. Despite all his bloodshed, not because of it. He knew that Solomon had an opportunity to be an even greater king than he was, if only he would obey God. Solomon ultimately fell short of that and turned to idolatry, so the blessing of God was no longer with him.

So now, as we train ourselves and look to be at peace with God, we must learn from both good and bad examples and place our focus where it belongs, on keeping within God’s teachings.

Ethan Kirl