All They Did Was Ask For A King

Why is it that we always try to out think  God? How often does it turn out well when we do that?  What are the usual results when we do that?  More turmoil in our lives?  Could we have known that would be the case? 

I believe  we could.  I have been reading I Kings.  Today I was in Chapters 15 and 16.  It chronicles the succession of Kings for both Judah and Israel.  The thing that really strikes me is all of the turmoil this succession of Kings caused.  You have treachery, assassinations, double crosses, etc. 

And all because they asked for a King.  God had a perfect plan already in place but the people thought they knew better than God.  The cool thing about God is that He is a great parent.  He is perfectly willing to step out of the way and let us go out and screw up our lives.  It's better to learn from the mistakes of others but sometimes we can only really learn the lessons from our own mistakes.

Reading these verses today gives me the opportunity to pause and examine my life to see if there are any areas where I am trying to out think God.  It just serves as a good reminder to refocus and do things God's way!

Sometimes Dying Is A Mercy From God

One of the hardest things to understand is why some people die young.  Why does God allow that to happen? 

I'm sure there are many reasons.  I ran across one specific reason in my reading today that I found comforting.

1 Kings 14:12-13(NKJV)

12Arise therefore, go to your own house. When your feet enter the city, the child shall die. 

13And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he is the only one of Jeroboam who shall come to the grave, because in him there is found something good toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.

Sometimes dying is a mercy from God.  In this case the child dies and God specifically said that it was because He found good in the child towards God. 

God knew that there was a whole lot of trouble, suffering, and pain coming to the House of Jeroboam.  Instead of making this little child suffer through all of that, God allowed the child to die beforehand.  As humans that is hard for us to comprehend because we want our loved ones here with us but think about it, could there be anyplace better to be than with God?

Oh Come On, Who You Gonna Believe?

This bit of Scripture just amazes me.  The Man of God that the Scripture refers to is a prophet who is returning from rebuking King Jeroboam.

1 Kings 13:11-19(NKJV)

11Now an old prophet dwelt in Bethel, and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; they also told their father the words which he had spoken to the king. 

12And their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” For his sons £had seen which way the man of God went who came from Judah. 

13Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him; and he rode on it, 

14and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. Then he said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” And he said, “I am.”

15Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.”

16And he said, “I cannot return with you nor go in with you; neither can I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place. 

17For I have been told by the word of the Lord, ‘You shall not eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by going the way you came.’”

18He said to him, “I too am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’” (He was lying to him.)

19So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.

Oh come on, who you gonna believe?!

If God has spoken to you and then someone comes along and tells you God spoke to them as well and then they contradict what God told you directly, why would you ever listen to the other person?

But how can we be sure that we are right and the other person is wrong?  Or to put it another way how do we know that God was actually speaking to us?  Those of us who have accepted Jesus as our savior know it because we have received the Holy Spirit.

What is the Holy Spirit?  Here is the way one commentator described the Holy Spirit.

"The Holy Spirit is the bridge to God within you. It is the part of your mind—the part of your Spirit—that is joined with the Mind of God. The Holy Spirit is the Voice for God and acts as a reminder to all of God's children of the unconditional love that God has for them.

Pasted from <http://thevoiceforlove.com/holy-spirit.html>

One of the purposes of the Holy Spirit is to guide us in our lives.

John 16:13(NKJV)

13However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 

The Holy Spirit is sent to guide us and Scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit will only tell us what God has told Him to tell us. 

So unless God is in the habit of playing tricks on us, you can rest assured that what God spoke directly to you is what you should listen to, that is as long as you have the Holy Spirit.

So how do I get the Holy Spirit?  That's easy.  All you have to do is accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.  Just simply ask Jesus to come into your life and take over.  Simply confess your belief in Him and your need for Him to lead you in your life.  Have a heartfelt conversation with Jesus.  "Dear Jesus…."

The More You Help Others Get What They Want In Life….

The more you will get what you want out of life.  So saith the great sales trainer Zig Ziglar, who by the way was a very strong Christian man.  Think about that.  What he is talking about is serving others.  Being of service. 

Another old friend used to say "You will pretty much make money in your life in direct proportion to the amount of service you provide your fellow man."  Again notice the theme.  Serving others. 

Seems like a pretty simple concept doesn't it?  Then why is it that some people don't get it?  Take a look at this verse from 1 Kings.

1 Kings 12:3-7(NKJV)

3that they sent and called him. Then Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 

4“Your father made our yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.”

5So he said to them, “Depart for three days, then come back to me.” And the people departed.

6Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still lived, and he said, “How do you advise me to answer these people?”

7And they spoke to him, saying, “If you will be a servant to these people today, and serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.”

Now think about it.  These are the advisors who had helped King Solomon to be so successful.  Don't you think it would be a good idea to listen to them and take their advice?  After all, what were they telling Rehoboam?  Serve others and they will gladly return the service.

But did he listen? 

1 Kings 12:10-11(NKJV)

10Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you should speak to this people who have spoken to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter on us’—thus you shall say to them: ‘My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s waist! 

11And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with £scourges!’”

Of course not.  Instead of becoming a servant to his people he became a tyrant.  And how did that work out for him?  Did he get what he wanted?  Nope!  He lost the Kingdom of Israel.

So remember the more we can help others get what they want in life, the more you will get what you want out of life.  Be a blessing by being a servant to others!

It's A Daily Struggle!

And so easy to slip and fall.  Don't worry, I'm not talking anything earth shaking here.  Just my daily walk with God.  No matter how long I have been doing daily Bible reading, it is still so easy to fall out of the habit.

Here I am, 9:00 PM on a Friday night and I am just now getting to my time with God.  Two other days this week I didn't get to it at all.  What changed?  God has blessed us incredibly the past couple of months.  Along with those blessings came more work.  Before I realized it I had scheduled away my time with God.  I rationalized it by telling myself that I would get to it later, I had to prepare for my appointments first.

Now I am grateful that I realized it early so now I can correct it.  Isn't it amazing though how quickly and easily we sometimes forget how important our daily walk is?  If it happens to you don't beat yourself up about it, I don't.  If it can happen to King Solomon, it can happen to us.  Check this out.

1 Kings 11:3-8(NKJV)

3And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. 

4For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David. 

5For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 

6Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as did his father David. 

7Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. 

8And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

After all that God had done for Solomon, you would think that  he would be impervious to being led astray but apparently not.  Now let me make it perfectly clear that unlike Solomon, I wasn't worshipping other gods or anything.  I just forgot to crack open my Bible and spend my time with God a couple of days in a row. 

I figured I'd share this today because I doubt that I am the only one that struggles with this.  As I said above, I don't beat myself up over it, I just vow to do better and move one.  A daily walk with God is a great adventure and this is just part of it.  Enjoy!

The Queen of Sheba Inspires Us!

One of our codes at Valley Family Church is:

The Queen of Sheba Inspires Us: We get that a spirit of excellence glorifies God and leaves people - especially the lost - breathless and receptive to God and His Word. So, we give God our best and seek excellence in all that we do. (1 Kings 10)

Here is an excerpt from 1 Kings 10.

1 Kings 10:1-9(NKJV)

1Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions. 

2She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels that bore spices, very much gold, and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart. 

3So Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing so difficult for the king that he could not explain it to her. 

4And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, 

5the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their apparel, his cupbearers, and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her. 

6Then she said to the king: “It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. 

7However I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and indeed the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard. 

8Happy are your men and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom! 

9Blessed be the Lord your God, who delighted in you, setting you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord has loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness.”

"A spirit of excellence glorifies God"

Doesn't that have a nice ring to it?  Sounds nice doesn't it?  Do we always live up to it?  Of course not.  But is it something to strive for?  Absolutely!

In all that we do in life let's try to do our best simply because it glorifies God!

Integrity of Heart

I ran across this phrase today and I liked the sound of it.  Integrity of Heart.  As I wrote the other day, God doesn't expect perfection.  Even though we are all saved we know that we all will still sin occasionally.  No way around it. 

What I like about the phrase is that it gives us each a way to judge how we are doing in our walk.  Even though we stumble, is our heart still set on God?  Are we still focused on Him.  Is the desire of our heart still to do God's will?  I think that is what is meant by the phrase "Integrity of Heart". 

In the Bible, God's promises are always conditional as you can see from the following verse.  God promises to do X as long as we do Y.  But God tells us right up front that if we don't do Y then all bets are off. 

1 Kings 9:4-6(NKJV)

4Now if you walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, 

5then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’ 

6But if you or your sons at all turn from following Me…..

So what happens when we don't do Y?  Sometimes there are consequences and sometimes God lets it slide.  An example would be King David.  He took the consecrated bread for he and his men to eat.  What is the difference between the times there are consequences and the times God lets it slide? 

What the verse above seems to indicate is that one of the things God takes into account is the integrity of our hearts.  Were we and are we really focused on God? 

What is the best way to get and stay focused on God?  By accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior.  Have you done that yet?  Just invite Jesus into your life.  "Dear Jesus…."