I Kings 12:12-16

¹² Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.” ¹³ The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, ¹⁴ he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.” ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the Lord, to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.
¹⁶ When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:

“What share do we have in David, what part in Jesse’s son?
To your tents, Israel! Look after your own house, David!”

So the Israelites went home. 

Thru this passage, God reminded me of the importance to listen to the advice given by older people. They have after all walked with God much more and i have much to learn from their experience. 

Hebrews 11:24-26

²⁴ By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. ²⁵ He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. ²⁶ He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 

What a great example Moses is. Thank God for this humble faithful man. He chose to suffer affliction with God’s people than to enjoy the pleasures of sin – which is passing and temporal.

As God’s child, I have to do what is right – even if it means that those who do not “follow the rules” will gain more and even take advantage of those who do what is right. This is something I should choose to do – rather than enjoy the temporal pleasures of this world.

Like Moses too – he considered suffering for Christ far better than the treasures in Egypt! Can imagine how rich Egypt must have been back then – but that was nothing to Moses. He had something better – a reward in God. God himself should be my reward.

Hebrews 11:1, 13-16

¹Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.  

I've been talking a lot about trusting in God and believing that he is in control of everything. I need to have the faith to be confident and assured of what i have been saying - to trust and believe not just in my mind but in my heart.

¹³ All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. ¹⁴ People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

I was encouraged by the heroes of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11 - and how they did not receive the things promised! But they were looking for something far better! I'm looking for a house but all along, God has a city prepared for me! =)

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14; Luke 12:34

 Ecclesiastes 12

¹³ Now all has been heard;
    here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
    for this is the duty of all mankind.
¹⁴ For God will bring every deed into judgment,
    including every hidden thing,
    whether it is good or evil.

A reminder that God will eventually deal with all those people who are trying to cheat me and take advantage of me. Also, i too should be careful myself regarding what i do.

Luke 12

  ³⁴ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 

 

In my devotion with my wife, we were brought to read the Parable of the Rich Fool - and the devotion material was talking about buying houses!!! It's amazing how God uses our devotion to speak to us directly on what is on our hearts. Another wonderful reminder that our hearts shall not be on earthly material temporal things. While we can enjoy them, it should not cloud our view on what is eternal.

1 Kings 3:11-14

¹¹ So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, ¹² I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. ¹³ Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor —so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. ¹⁴ And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.”

2 thoughts - first, in verse 13, it was a reminder that God gives lovingly and freely - and sometimes even when we do not ask for it!!! God's grace is shown when he gives to me even tho i do not deserve it.

Second, in verse 14, i note that Solomon did not live a particularly long life. The reason is obvious (see previous post here. I am reminded how important it is to obey the Lord. And alotho i may fail at times and sin, i can pray that he will reveal it to me so that i may confess them to him and receive forgiveness.

Ecclesiastes 2:4-11, Hebrews 13:5

Ecclesiastes 2
 ⁴ I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. ⁵ I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. ⁶ I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. ⁷ I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. ⁸ I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem as well—the delights of a man’s heart. ⁹ I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me. ¹⁰ I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil. ¹¹ Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.

Hebrews 13

⁵ Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

These 2 passages spoke to me reminding me that contentment in God is more important than whatever material things we can have in this world - which are just temporal. Like houses.

1 Kings 11:1-4, 14, 23

¹King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. ² They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. ³ He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. ⁴ As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.

The wisest man who ever lived!!! I was wondering how could he have been soooo stupid? Perhaps this could be attributed to lies he told himself? That it was alright? Still, how could he have justified such actions? A direct disregard of God's clear command.

I better take note of this - that if the wisest man who ever lived could fall for sin like this, how much more someone like me? I must continue to pull out tempatation triggers and put in holiness habits to avoid this. 

¹⁴ Then the Lord raised up against Solomon an adversary, Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom.

 ²³ And God raised up against Solomon another adversary, Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah.

What struck me about these 2 verses is that it was God who raised up adversaries against Solomon!!! Why? As a punishment? Perhaps it was more as an act to discipline him. In my life, I can think of "adversaries" whom God raised up against me - and while it was not pleasant, it was used to make me into a better person.