197th Week, I Kings Chapters 10-14 ( Cllick on Title for Video Introduction)

Click on Title for Video Intro

Monday, I Kings Chapter 10

I Kings 10   

Mindy Strayer

                                                                                                                  

THOUGHT

Chapter 10 seems to me to be a setup for what is to come. So Solomon has this extraordinary gift of wisdom which gives him much admiration and honor from everyone, including many kings and foreign dignitaries (as our commentary in our Bible states). We read of his never—ending supply of wealth and resources.  Everybody thinks he is “Da Bomb!” He is the man. Our Bible states that the whole world sought an audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart. “Solomon’s Splendor” is even a heading in our Bibles. This guy sounds too good to be true right? The answer is, “Right”, and we will hear more about that in I Kings 11.

It is interesting to me how the Bible is laid out. Right before I Kings 9 the heading is “Solomon’s greatness and downfall.” It starts off with an appearance of God to Solomon and God’s warning for Solomon to remember Him.  Then it tells of Solomon’s forced labor on many people described as slave labor which does not sound good. Now in I Kings 10 everyone, at least all of the rich and powerful, are telling Solomon how wonderful he is. We read about how rich Solomon is. There is no mention of Solomon praising God while he is in all of his splendor. Now, maybe he did, and it just didn’t get recorded. However, all the same, it is interesting that the Bible does not make mention of God getting glory or honor. 

Even without reading the rest of I Kings we know that Solomon has a downfall because our Bible heading states it.  We know that we fall when we turn our hearts away from God and fall into sin. This got me thinking about how, when we desire our own personal greatness, when we live for ourselves and not for God, we too will have a downfall. It must be our heart’s desire for God’s greatness to take center stage, not our own. Only when God is glorified and honored, and given His due credit for His goodness to us, will we prosper. 

It also made me think about all those times when we give Godly advice, wise advice to others, but then we ourselves don’t follow it. We have to put God’s wisdom that He placed in our hearts into action. We have to strive to obey God and keep the disciplines of the faith.

PRAYER

Lord God, we thank You for the story of King Solomon and all of his splendor, because it reminds us that we need to keep You high and lifted up, glorified and honored for everything that You do for us, for every gift You bless us with. Jesus, we say, “Be glorified!”  Daily You save us. You wash us clean and give us new life. We pray that our hearts stay turned on to You and Your Will. Lord, grant us the wisdom that will help You to further Your Kingdom here on earth.  And, Lord, may our own lives reflect that of applied Godly wisdom so that we can please You and set a good example to others. We ask this in Jesus Name. AMEN

Tuesday, I Kings Chapter 11

I Kings 11

Verse 11

Mindy Strayer

Verse 11:  So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates.”

THOUGHT

Wow, how the mighty have fallen! Three chapters ago Solomon was dedicating the Lord’s temple. He was praying to God, praising Him, honoring Him, and asking God to hear the prayers of his people when they call out to Him and ask for forgiveness. He even prays a prayer of blessing on the whole assembly of Israel saying in I Kings 8:58, “May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep the commands, decrees and regulations he gave our fathers.” And then in verse 61 he tells the Israelites, “But your hearts must be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands.” Wise words to live by aren’t they?

It is too bad that Solomon couldn’t continue to act out his wisdom during his life. By chapter 11 Solomon has married many foreign women, which was a sin against God that Solomon would have been aware of. The Bible says that Solomon was led astray by these wives, just as God had warned would happen. His heart was turned after other gods so much so that Solomon even built high places for these gods to be worshipped. The so—called wise man was not acting out his wisdom. Solomon’s heart was severely distracted from God. As the years of his life went on, it seems that his relationship with God went from one of intimacy where God even appeared twice to him, to very casual where there was still some prayer and following some commands, to Solomon not even being interested in God.

How does this happen, we ask? The answer is “sin”, left alone sin. The sin that you know is there, but it seems so tiny, so insignificant. What possible harm could come from it? Well, that is just what Satan wants you to think. Cancer isn’t visible right away either but it continues to grow until one day it makes itself known in your body and all of a sudden your life is in jeopardy. Sin is an act of disobedience against God, and if we ignore it, our hearts cannot be fully committed to God. If there is sin that has not been confronted in our own lives, we need to face it. We need to confess it to the Lord and ask Him for forgiveness.

PRAYER

Pray for anyone who has let sin escape and hide out in their life. 

Pray to Jesus who is able to rid us of it.

Lord Jesus, Savior of my soul, I confess my sin to You. I believe that You have the power to help me overcome the temptations that drew me into this sin. I pray that You would change my heart and help me to fully commit to the Lord. Wash me clean I pray. Holy Spirit, walk with me moment by moment and guide me in the way everlasting. AMEN

Wednesday, I Kings Chapter 12

I Kings I2

Verse 4

Mindy Strayer

Verse 4:  “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”

THOUGHT

Rehoboam followed the advice of poor council and announced that he would not lighten the yoke but would in fact make it heavier. This caused a rebellion and divided the nation of Israel. The Israelites asking for a lighter yoke to be put upon them made me remember what Jesus has to say about His Yoke. 

Matthew 11:28—30:  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 

I am so thankful for the yoke that Jesus offers us daily. Jesus will lift our burden of sin if we ask him to forgive us. He will lift the burdens of excessive demands at our workplace and those placed by people in our lives. He will lift our burdens of feeling inadequate or underappreciated. He will lift the burden of simply worrying about what to do when we don’t know what decision to make, or which path to choose to walk down. 

Jesus promises us His never-ending completely filling love. He promises healing, and he promises to give us peace with God. He promises to hold us when we need Him to. He promises us eternity with Him if we promise to serve Him.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, remind us whenever we start to feel stressed, what You said about Your Yoke. Help us to put on Your Yoke instead of the world’s. Jesus, we pray that every day we live, we live in service to You. Thank You for Your Love. AMEN

Thursday, I Kings Chapter 13

I Kings 13

Verses 33-34

Mindy Strayer

Verses 33-34:  Even after this, Jeroboam did not change his evil ways, but once more appointed priests for the high places from all sorts of people. Anyone who wanted to become a priest he consecrated for the high places. This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its downfall and to its destruction from the face of the earth.

THOUGHT

This story of Jeroboam is a sad one. God told Jeroboam through the prophet Ahijah back in chapter 11 verse 37-38, “However, as for you, I will take you, and you will rule over all that your heart desires; you will be king over Israel. If you do whatever I command you and walk in my ways and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you.”  Wow! That is quite a promise from God! What man wouldn’t want God to promise them that?

But then we read about Jeroboam building shrines, having cow idols on high places and appointing anybody to be a priest because he was worried that his people would undermine his authority after their trips to Jerusalem to the temple. So instead of standing on the promises of God and allowing God to be God and do His work, Jeroboam acted foolishly and sinned. Jeroboam gets his hand destroyed and then has it healed with prayer. He finds out that the man of God from Judah really was sent by God, and spoke God’s truth, as evidenced by the lion not mauling the body or attacking the donkey. Even after the evidence of God, the Bible says he still did not change his evil ways. 

God makes a way when tough situations or circumstances come to us, and His Way is never a path of sin. It is too bad that Jeroboam didn’t realize that the way of sin was not part of God’s promise to him. So if solutions come to us by means of our own brains or the advice of someone else, and they are answers that cause us to have to sin against God, it is not the right way. We must step away, pray to the Lord and wait for Him to work it out.

PRAYER

Thank You, Lord, for this story of what we can miss out on when we do not hold true to You and stand tall on Your Promises. Oh God, increase our faith in You; we pray. When difficult circumstances come our way, help us to remember that the answer never lies in sinning against You. We have Your

Promise to always be with us; so Father, we pray that we allow You to lead us into choosing paths that are right in Your eyes. Jesus, we give You honor and praise for You made the way for us to live with the promise of eternity. We Love You, Lord! AMEN

Friday, I Kings Chapter 14

I Kings 14

Verses 1-20

Heather Williams

THOUGHT

This story definitely wasn’t a happy one with a happy ending. Again we see the consequences of disobedience towards God. We know in the New Testament that the wages of sin are death. Sin’s consequences are guaranteed in God’s Word. However, the timing is not. We can’t predict when these consequences will happen. When we contradict God, and things continue to go well, we often think we escaped the consequence of our action (sin). However, that is a dangerous assumption as we learn from this story of Jeroboam. 

I also found it interesting that even though King Jeroboam was disobedient towards God and had seemed to forget about God, he managed to seek out God when he needed help. His son was dying, and he wanted to know what was going to happen. Clearly he had hope that his son would live and knew the only one who would tell him.  This is God. 

That reminds me of how often we as Christians go about our lives turning toward the world when things are good.  Then when things get bad or we need help, we turn to God.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, we humbly come before You as Your children. Lord, we admit that we have sinned and fallen short of Your glory. We often get wrapped up in this world and our earthly lives, losing sight of You and Your glory. Please forgive us. Lord, I pray that we could come and bow before You in all seasons of our lives and not just when we need You. Thank You for Your forgiveness. AMEN