- Then the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck him down, and he died. So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon. 1 Kings 2:46 – The 40 year-long reign of David has ended and now Solomon his son takes the throne. Yet before his death, David gave Solomon some directions on how to firmly establish his kingdom. Solomon needed to take care of the individuals in the kingdom that were troublesome to the throne for David so they wouldn’t cause trouble for him when he took the throne. As we can see from our verse above, the way Solomon “handled” such troublers was quickly and ruthlessly. While we may have our opinions on how Solomon chose to handle these people, the end result was his kingdom being established and all the individuals that brought trouble were no longer around to bring trouble anymore. Something that we must be willing to do as we find ourselves establishing into new seasons of life is “handling” the troublers from the previous season of life. Now this is not me telling you to go kill people, please don’t do that! This is me pushing you to address the sins in your life that brought trouble to you in the last season and make sure they aren’t allowed to follow you into the new season. Don’t believe that simply because there is a change in your life that all the past struggles with sin you had won’t follow you into the future. If you struggled with lust before marriage, you’ll struggle with if after marriage. If you struggled with greed in the low-paying job, you’ll still struggle with it in the high-paying job. Choose to handle these troubling sins by coming to the Lord for help so these sins won’t follow you into the next season causing havoc. God’s heart to is establish you into the calling He has for you, lean on His help to handle your sin. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3045
- 1 Kings 2 Daily DEVO Act therefore according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace. 1 Kings 2:6 – This was spoken by David to the new king Solomon. What I love here is that Solomon was directed to act according to his wisdom. As we read later we see that the wisest thing he did was ask God for more wisdom. He knew what he had wasn’t enough to accomplish what God was asking of him, he needed what God could give him as well. Maybe the wisest thing you could do today is ask God for help. Realize you alone aren’t able to accomplish what God is leading you to do. He is though ready and willing to give us what we need. What then do you need from God to keep moving forward? I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac- Daily DEVO 1003
- He said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel fully expected me to reign. However, the kingdom has turned about and become my brother’s, for it was his from the Lord.” 1 Kings 2:15 – Adonijah, one of David’s sons and also the one who in the last chapter tried to take the kingdom away from David, now approaches new King Solomon’s mother with a request. Part of the request included this passage. Adonijah believed the kingdom was to be his. He believed all the country expected him to sit on the throne and the fact he isn’t means it was taken from him. Yet, even in his own words, he says that Solomon his brother was to be king because it was the Lord’s plan. What I would have liked to of said to him in that moment was that if it was from the Lord, the kingdom was never yours to begin with. Nothing was taken from him because he never possessed the throne. How often do we find ourselves complaining about something being taken from us when it reality it was never ours to begin with. Everything we have is God’s and He has the freedom to do with it as He pleases. He gives and takes away. Trust though that while God has this power and right, He has a purpose behind His taking and giving. Trust as well that He deeply loves you and that love will direct His actions. Yes, it may not seem always that love was directing the action when something is taken from us, but that’s where our trust in the goodness of God must come into play. God had a big plan in mind when putting Solomon on the throne; know He is working on something bigger than what you see too when He makes His moves in your life today. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2186
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