Monday, June 9, 2014

The Peacemaker (1 Kings 3:1a)


12/9/2010 8:50:04 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  The peacemaker

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  1Kings 3:1a

 

            Message of the verse:  “1 ¶  Then Solomon formed a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her to the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the LORD and the wall around Jerusalem.”

            This SD begins the second chapter in “Be Responsible” which is Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on 1Kings, and he entitles it “Wisdom From Above.”  This chapter will cover the third and forth chapters of 1Kings along with the 2nd chapter of 2Chronicles.  As he begins his commentary Dr. Wiersbe writes the following:  “Chapters 3 and 4 describe events that occurred during the first three years of Solomon’s reign, before he began to build the temple (6:1), and they describe Solomon in several roles.”  The first role is seen as “The peacemaker.”

            Frederick Buechner writes this of Solomon, “King Solomon was among the wisest fools who ever wore a crown.”  I think this describes Solomon very well indeed.  Solomon’s name means peace and he was nothing like his father David who won many battles for the Lord’s people and conquered many people’s land so that the land that is described in Genesis and other earlier books of the Bible.  It also says in those books that a king of Israel should not have multiple wives and certainly not wives from pagan nations.  I would have to say that spiritually the nation reached it greatest heights under its most famous king, king David and then began to sink lower beginning with Solomon with multiple revivals along the way until it went into captivity in 605 B.C.

            The first part of verse one seems to set up a pattern for Solomon as he married the daughter of Pharaoh King of Egypt in order to form a peaceful alliance with Egypt.  He would go on to marry many other wives for this same purpose, which meant he was continually breaking the Law of God concerning the kings of Israel.

            It is said that Solomon took six years to build the temple of God while it took him thirteen years to build his own house.  Now the temple of the Lord was paid for through David’s contributions, but the people must have been the ones who paid for the house of Solomon, and at the end of his reign it is make clear that they were tired of all of this.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There are times in my life when even though things look good to me, if they will cause me to compromise my faith then I will have to say no to them.  This is something that Solomon did not do.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.      I must always remember that I am in a spiritual battle and in need of having my spiritual armor on at all times.

2.      I wish to give myself to the Lord for worship and service this day.

3.      I trust the Lord to direct my path this day.
I want to continue to learn contentment.   12/9/2010 9:24:17 AM   

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