Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Wisdom and Chocolate Cake

You know, God’s Word has such depth and mouth-watering richness-like grandma’s three-layer chocolate cakes (or coconut...or red velvet-take your pick :-). You can admire the beauty of God’s Word from the outside all you want, but until you get into it, just like with the cake, you find it doesn’t satisfy. For the last few days, (well, the last couple of weeks) I’ve been have trouble really getting into God’s Word. I haven’t had a lot of desire to really get into it. I’ve wanted to dig in, but I haven’t wanted to at the same time, if that makes sense. Blasphemous? Nah, just being honest.

So, I get daily devotionals by e-mail from one of my favorite ladies, and  yesterday (8/29/11),  the devotional indirectly led me to 1 Kings 12. I didn’t want to just start reading the chapter without understand the context, so I did some background research on what the “Kings” are about. It seems that Jeremiah was the author of 1 Kings, and that its purpose is to trace the rise of King Solomon’s leadership after the death of his father David. So after reading all that, I dug in to chapter 12, and I was blown away by the direct parallel of the scriptures to our lives. Basically, the Israelites wanted Rehoboam (King Solomon’s son) to lighten the “heavy yoke” put upon them by his father Solomon now that Rehoboam was king. Rehoboam wisely chose to consult the elders that counseled his father Solomon. The counselors advised him that

“If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.”  (1 Kings 12:7 NIV)

Wise advice right? Do right by the people, and everything will turn out ok. Apparently, Rehoboam didn’t think so. This next turn of events absolutely blew me away. Instead of listening to the wise men who had counseled the WISEST MAN TO EVER LIVE, the scriptures say  “8 But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him.” My mouth dropped in genuine disbelief. WHAT? ARE YOU SERIOUS!??!? But you know, I couldn’t be too surprised. Because if I had been Rehoboam, young and immature, I would have done the very same thing-and I have done it. My mom or some other wise person has told me something that will benefit me, and I went and did the opposite. It’s not easy for us to recognize the wise people in our lives all the time. It takes seeking God’s heart and “applying our hearts to wisdom” (Ps. 90:12). There’s nothing like a wise man or woman of God, because those individuals are beacons that show the world that there is another better way, the best way. Instead of following our fleshly desires, there is another law at work-the law of the Spirit which sets us free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).

One final thing: If you’re having difficulty staying focused on God’s Word, be honest with Him about it, and be on the lookout-you never know when you’ll come upon a situation that’ll lead you to the Word and give you a new perspective.

No comments:

Post a Comment