Amen

And Bathsheba bowed and did homage to the king. Then the king said, “What is your wish?”
Then she said to him, “My lord, you swore by the LORD your God to your maidservant, saying, ‘Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne.’ - 1 Kings 1: 16-17

Today’s Reading: 1 Kings: 1-2; Luke 19: 28-48

And Solomon did become the next king…

This is the same great and wise Solomon of the book of Proverbs. He was the second child of the Bathsheba; the woman with whom David began his fall into his biggest sins.

Once again, God turns a bad situation into a blessing, the lowest possible means into the greatest possible result. This theme occurs so much that it cries out for us to pay attention.

Joseph rises from slave to be second to Pharaoh. Gideon rises from cowardice to become a great judge of Israel. Ruth makes it through a rough situation as widow to be the forefather of David. A Young David slays the giant Goliath with a stone and sling.

It’s almost as if God enjoys defying all odds. He provides paths of victory through the impossible forests of fear and circumstance.

What is required of us is faith.

We may still be afraid. We may hesitate. We may linger at the crossroads of fate entirely too long. But once we decide to act in faith, we are asking God to move in our lives. We are granting permission for the impossible to be made possible.

So don’t worry if you come from a bad family, have a troubled past, don’t have money, education, or the resources that you need to achieve what you want to achieve.

If you have faith then no circumstance can stop you from getting where you are supposed to be.

God has already said yes, now He’s just waiting on us to say Amen.

So be it....

David Pays Dues

David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much, and David became one of his armor-bearers. Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, "Allow David to remain in my service, for I am pleased with him." – 1 Samuel 16: 21-22

This must have been interesting for David.

Saul just screwed up and now is out of favor with God. As a result God chose David to be king. But there are a few problems with this…

Problem #1: Saul is still king.

Problem #2: David is a youngster

Problem #3: Sure God anointed David king, but the people still view Saul as King.

So just like anyone with a purpose, David had to pay his dues. His paying of dues presented itself in the form of being Saul’s servant!

Not the safest occupation for the man who would take power from the king...

It is an interesting lesson though. Just like Joseph, David has to take the path that seems to be of most resistance to get where he is supposed to be.

Now, I’m not the biggest fan of this notion of taking your lumps or that we have to go through bad things in order to get to the good places that we want to be. There is something about when people say that hard times are God’s version of getting you ready for your blessing that makes me cringe.

To be honest, I don’t know how all of that works nor does anyone else. Maybe I’ll ask God about that one day…

But what is clear to me is that God really does use the trials in our life to our benefit. He is great at turning lemons into lemonade.

So from this perspective I try to remain positive when times are tough. Instead of saying “woe is me” or complaining. I do my best to say ok God… what can I learn from this? How can this season make me a better person?

Some days are better than others I must admit.

David did end up becoming king just like Joseph ended up as the right hand man of Pharaoh. But, another thing that they had in common is that they made the best of every situation they were in whether that was in the service of a dangerously manic king or locked up in jail.

How can you make the best of the situations that you are in now?

Food for thought…

Today’s Reading: 1 Samuel 15-16; Luke 10:25-42

Lemonade

Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, "Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!" (That is why he was also called Edom.)

Jacob replied, "First sell me your birthright."

"Look, I am about to die," Esau said. "What good is the birthright to me?"

But Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.

Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.
So Esau despised his birthright. – Genesis 25: 29-34

Today's Reading: Genesis 25-26; Matthew 8: 1-17

Esau was Jacob’s twin brother…

Shady.

How are you gonna hustle your own brother out of his birthright with some bread and stew? Would you treat your family this way?

Ok… maybe some of us feel like it sometimes… especially with a dummy like Esau. It seems like he would have sold it to anyone for a coke and a smile but geez… talk about a dysfunctional family.

What’s interesting is that later on in the story Jacob ends up being the father of the twelve tribes of Israel and a great man of faith.

The cool thing about the beginning of the Jacob story and several others is that we constantly see that God does a good job of turning lemons into lemonade.

Life isn’t so much about where you’ve been. It’s more about the actions and decisions we make today that determine where we are going.

Yes, I do believe that there is a cost that we pay for the things that we do in this life (we will see Jacob pay in full in the next few chapters) but it really feels good to know that a lot of the cool kids in the Bible didn’t start off so nice and sweet. Many started off like Jacob did… as people you wouldn’t trust farther than you could throw them.

But, with persistent faith they became great people who accomplished great things that they never could have imagined.

So when we make mistakes and don’t live up to the potential that we see in ourselves it is important to remember to forgive ourselves and make a conscious effort to do better today and in the future. . If we don’t, then we end up holding ourselves back from being the best that we can be.

Guilt is the strangest of bedfellows.