196th Week, I Kings Chapters 5-9 (Click on Title for Videoi Intro)

 Click on Title for Video Intro

Monday, I Kings Chapter 5

I Kings 5

Verse 14

Tanya Ruden

Verse 14:  He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of 10,000 a month in Lebanon and 2 months at home.

THOUGHT

Once again I am thankful for my ‘footnotes’. ‘Solomon drafted three times the number of workers needed for the temple project and then arranged their schedules so they didn’t have to be away from home for long periods of time. This showed his concern for the welfare of his workers and the importance he placed on family life. The strength of a nation is in direct proportion to the strength of its families. Solomon wisely recognized that family should always be a top priority. As you structure your own work or arrange the schedules of others, watch for the impact of your plans on families.’

I feel that this reflects my biggest testimony I have for my life. After Crystal was born and before I changed jobs, my life was a mess. I was working over 40 hours a week, I had a 4-7 month old who was very high maintenance and loved her mommy (at that time more than her daddy), a 2 year old needing mommy and a husband wanting to spend time with his wife. I spent so much energy on my work that I had little energy to spend with my family, especially Alan. I feel like I hit a bottom and woke up one day realizing I was a mess and in need of a change.  That is when God created my new job opportunity and held my hand as we negotiated my transition. I still work; however, I rarely work over 40 hours (except in February), and I have an employer that understands the importance of families and allows me to travel during the busiest time of the year. My life feels more in control, and everyone at home is much happier, including me. 

As a wife, God has called us to an amazing post, and He has said it is OK to work (because I do believe not all of us women were meant to be stay-at- home moms). I personally feel like a better mom because I work, but that is probably a discussion for another devotion.  However, God says our family must be first, and we must serve our husbands and children before our jobs. I also know I have heard it said that the biggest peace of mind we can give our children is a good relationship between husband and wife. Our children get stressed when they can sense mom and dad are ‘fighting’.  It is so important to serve the needs of your spousal relationship, even if it means some time away from the children. The peace of mind they receive is greater than the 2 hours they could have had with you.

So in conclusion, be conscious of your time and scheduling of events and how it affects time with your family.  

PRAYER

Dear Jesus, thank You for family, husbands, wives, children, grandchildren, nieces, etc. and those we hold as close as family. Family means responsibility and a group in need of time. Help us always put this at the top of our list in our lives. We know we can only keep priorities with Your help, so we ask Your help in keeping our priorities in line. May work never replace our families.  May our ‘greed’ from work never destroy our families.  We love You, Jesus, and we love our families. Thank You.  AMEN

Tuesday, I Kings Chapter 6

I Kings 6

Verse 14

Tanya Ruden

Verse 14:  So Solomon built the temple and completed it.

THOUGHT

This is one of those times I wish my Bible had pictures.  It is so hard for my accounting mind to picture what this temple looked like. I can envision its beauty, but probably not in the real manner it was. Solomon is credited with a large project.

One thing I wanted us to think about is, “How do we see our place of worship?”  Do we view it as God’s palace?  Solomon viewed this temple more as God’s home than a worship center. How do you think God wants us to view our places of worship today?  I truly don’t have an answer for this. I think God loves our contemporary worship and desires us to do this, but I think He expects us to also act and present ourselves as if we were at His home.

Are you behaving in the most polite Christian manner when you are at church? Don’t let society’s acceptance of too casual get the best of you.  God wants to see your best in His Home.

PRAYER

Lord, You have provided all of us with such wonderful places to worship You. Church buildings are where we can call home, and we too feel at home in them. Please keep us ‘on our toes’ when we enter Your Home. Help us keep our manners, thoughts, and deeds of You, and don’t allow us to be disrespectful in our place of worship. Bless our church homes so that they may prosper in Your Love. AMEN

Wednesday, I Kings Chapter 7

I Kings 7

Verse 51

Tanya Ruden

Verse 51:  He brought in the things his father David had dedicated, and he placed them in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple.

THOUGHT

Once again I wish I could envision the size and beauty of this palace.  It sounds remarkable. Plus all I keep thinking about is that if you are the king, you get the best of everything, not the Target look-alike that is affordable, but one that looks elegant. I did think at the end that it was interesting he brought in things of his father’s. If you can have the best and the newest, why keep anything old?

I don’t have any notes on this, but I think it shows the importance of family items. Notice the things he kept were particular things, not everything. I think it is good for us to treasure some items from our family’s past.  Now again remember that we should not treasure it so much that it becomes an item of worship.  You can’t take it with you.  I think some family items are special. I know I have my grandpa’s clock on my mantle, and I am excited for my children to someday understand that their great-grandpa made it.  I am also excited to have a china hutch to display my grandmother’s china in.  It is 0K to treasure some items that show us our past.

PRAYER

Dear Jesus, thank You for memories. Thank You for items that we are able to hold on to in physical form that often help us keep memories closer at hand.  Help us to treasure these memories as You intended them to be.  Help us to never try and replace them but share them with the future generations.  In the Name of Jesus.  AMEN

Thursday, I Kings Chapter 8

I Kings 8

Verse 39 & 43

Tanya Ruden

Verse 39:  Deal with each man according to all he does, since you know his heart, for you alone know the hearts of all men.

Verse 43:  And do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.

THOUGHT

WOW! What a great chapter! What a great prayer and a reminder that we daily need to be in prayerful worship. Solomon did a great job.

I really liked the first verse I selected primarily because it is a great reminder of who is the ultimate judge of our hearts. So often I feel I become judgmental of others’ hearts, and it is not my call to make. Only God knows the truth and knows who holds Him in their hearts. He will judge us on that last day.  We need only think of ourselves.

The second verse I selected I liked because it showed how Solomon wanted to use his temple he built to further God’s kingdom. He wanted visitors to come here and make their petitions known to God and have them answered so they would come to know the true God and His power. Notice Solomon didn’t say, “Come to this temple and look at how awesome a structure it is. I built it.”  No, Solomon was thinking of the ‘lost’.

We spent a lot of time in November at my church having sermons or small talks at the beginning of church about welcoming visitors and being sure we are ‘welcoming’ to all we see so it feels like a ‘family’ atmosphere where they can enjoy their worship. You never know why someone is visiting and if they are finally lifting a care to God.  Maybe simply praying what Solomon did for that visitor is what the Holy Spirit needs from you that day.  We all must be ‘welcoming’ people to visitors in our church homes. We are God’s servants in His home.  That is part of our calling. Embrace that calling. Use your church as a method to reach out to others.

PRAYER

Jesus, once again I thank You for my church home. But so often we become so comfortable in this ‘home’ we forget to use it as a place to further Your Kingdom. We pray for those who have visited our churches, and we pray You answer their prayers and needs and begin to work in their lives if they are finally asking and allowing You to do so. We pray that through their situation, they are able to come to know You and see You for the excellent Father that You are. I also pray that You use us, Your servants, to notice visitors and make them feel welcomed in our various church homes. Don’t allow us to become too ‘comfortable’ to not make an effort to step out of our zone in a familiar place and witness for You. AMEN

Friday, I Kings Chapter 9

I Kings 9

Mindy Strayer

THOUGHT

I am commenting on 1 Kings 9 verses l—9 when God appeared to Solomon.

We saw in chapter 8 the temple is completed. Solomon gives this big prayer of dedication, and everyone is praising God and offering up sacrifices.  Solomon asks the Lord to remember his people when they call on His name, repent, and then ask for forgiveness of sin. To Solomon and the people, everything must seem like they’ve got it together with God, and they can now relax and enjoy His blessings. Right!?

This chapter comes at an interesting time because it can be applied to the season of blessing in my own life right now. As you know Bart and I have been blessed with a new home, a smooth move, a new bed and many more things in the last couple of weeks. Things are going well, and now we can sit back and relax in the blessings that God has provided, right!?

I actually had this thought before reading chapter 9 during my prayer time with God. God said, “Well, I have blessed you in abundance. Now, don’t forget Me. Don’t forget to stay in prayer with Me and to keep on living out our relationship. Don’t relax and let your heart turn to other things that are not of Me.” Yes, we can enjoy God’s blessings, and believe me I am enjoying sleeping on this nice comfortable bed! However, don’t let the blessing itself take over your life to the point that you skip time with God and stop asking Him where to go from here, what you should do with your time, your energy, your resources. Don’t allow your heart’s greatest desire to be something other than God Himself.

I feel like God is saying the same thing to Solomon when He appears to him. “Solomon, I have blessed you and Israel, your kingdom. Now, don’t forget me. Don’t neglect our relationship by not going to me in prayer and by disobeying my commands. You need Me in times of blessings, times when you

sin and need forgiveness, and All-of-the-Times in between.”

This is a living, breathing relationship that we have with God. It was never meant to be turned on and off like a television set or a radio, so we shouldn’t treat it like that.

PRAYER

Father God, we just thank You for all of Your many blessings in our lives.  We thank You for forgiveness of sin that we have through Jesus Christ. We thank You that it is Your desire to be in constant communication with us and that You would desire to have Your Holy Spirit live in our hearts. We pray that our heart’s greatest desire is not for Your blessings, but for You. You, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. AMEN