1 KINGS 3:5-12

BACKGROUND

King David has died, and Solomon is the new king.  He goes to a “high holy place” called Gibeon, to pray and make sacrifices.  It was customary for the people of that time to go to a special place to talk with God.  Most often, it was the top of a hill or mountain.  Think of Mt. Sinai.  Also, Jerusalem was a hilltop city, and the temple was the high point. These were the places where people believed they would get a God encounter.

DETAILS

  • God comes to Solomon in a dream.  He asks Solomon “what shall I give you?” 
  • As a king, Solomon might ask for many kingly things, such as:
    • Political or military power
    • Victory over enemies
    • Riches 
    • A long reign
  • Instead, what does he ask for?
    • An understanding mind
    • The ability to discern good from evil
  • God liked this answer.  He granted his request, and gave him wisdom.  But he liked his answer so much, that he gave him all the other stuff too!

TAKEAWAY

When we pray, it is so easy to ask for things for our friends and ourselves (i.e., health, happiness, safety, employment, etc.).  These are all good things to pray for.  But maybe we should also be asking God for wisdom and discernment.  Judging from God’s reaction to Solomon’s request, it is the most important thing.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Do you have a special prayer place?  It doesn’t have to be a mountaintop.  It can be a anywhere.  A friend of mine sails big boats in the ocean.  He says that his “God Place” is out on the open sea.  Where’s your “God Place”?
 

ROMANS 8:26-39

BACKGROUND

We have been working our way through the book of Romans since June 11th.  We will continue on this journey through September 17th.  In previous passages, Paul has focused on the concepts of sin & death, faith & life, and our Christian lives that often seem to ricochet between the two. Today’s reading  picks up where we left off last week, but it takes a new turn.  

DETAILS

  • We begin by examining the role of the Holy Spirit in our prayer life.  I love the words of assurance that the Holy Spirit “helps us in our weakness” and “intercedes with sighs too deep for words”. How beautiful is that?!!  By the way, the word “intercede” means that the Holy Spirit steps in and speaks to God for us, explaining to God what we mean.  Some Christians pray to saints and/or Mary. This verse tells us that the Holy Spirit is there to do this, and goes directly to God. The Holy Spirit is our helper. (vv. 26-27)
  • Here is a verse that many of us love!  The problem is that we focus on the promise and not the two conditions.  The promise is that “All things work for the good…”  We like to stop there.  But the conditions are 1) …for those in Christ Jesus and 2)… who are called according to his purpose.  So, the promise only works for those of us who are of the faith, PLUS it only works when we are doing God’s will.  Am I wrong? Read it over again, and think about it. (v. 28)
  • This next verses are ones that a wise person might gloss over, because it contains the word “predestined”.  Since I am not that wise, I will offer my perspective. Many denominations are split over this phrase.  Some claim that God has chosen some to be Christians before they were born, and other people not.  The argument is that if God has already chosen, then we have no free will in the matter of faith.  Free Will Baptists are one example of a denomination taking a firm stance on this issue.  While I am not a Free Will Baptist, I do believe that we all have a free will in matters of faith.  I believe what Paul is trying to say to the church in Rome is that God knew in advance that He wanted them to choose Jesus.  That should be a word of comfort to those suffering for their faith.  I do not believe that Paul intended this as a blanket statement for all Christians.  (vv. 29-30)
  • The remaining verses are full of words that have to do with struggle.  For the early Christians, accepting Jesus as their savior often meant struggles with those around them.  Even today, living out our faith can often present us with difficulties.  (vv. 31-37)
  • The conclusion to this passage is a beautiful word of comfort.  Nothing can separate us from the love of God!  (vv. 38-39)

TAKEAWAY

  • How many times have we heard or said “I don’t know how to pray”?  It is good to remind ourselves that the Holy Spirit is ready to help.  Our prayers don’t have to be perfect; it is the Holy Spirit who makes them perfect.
  • Jesus is the firstborn of a large family (v29). We are that large family.  As members of the family, we know that “God has our back”, when times get tough.  He is always there beside us.  Always.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

  • Must our prayers be well thought out and beautifully composed, or may they also be no more than “sighs too deep for words”?
  • How does knowing that we are forgiven change how we live our lives?
     

MATTHEW 13:31-33, 44-52

BACKGROUND

Here we have five of Jesus’ parables.  I could say that the first two are about big things coming from small beginnings, the next two are about the urgency of spreading the Word, and the last is about the end times. I’ll get to that, but first, I want to zoom out, and look at the big picture.

DETAILS

  • We are halfway through the gospel of Matthew. So far in the story, Jesus has been:
  • Born 
  • Baptized
  • Tempted in the wilderness
  • Giving his keynote address (The Sermon on the Mount)
  • Calling apostles and disciples along the way
  • Performing miracles
  • Teaching us about our relationship with God
  • Now, he’s teaching us about the Kingdom of God. I think that Jesus is at the point in his ministry where he’s thinking “Now that I have their attention, let me tell them what I came here to tell them”.  But the people of Israel were waiting for the messiah to come, kick out the Romans, and re-establish the old kingdom of David and Solomon.  I’m sure that when he opened a parable with “the kingdom of heaven is like…” he had everyone’s attention.  They are waiting for him to share his military plan.  Can you imagine their confusion, when he doesn’t talk politics, but talks instead about a community of faith?  I’m sure there was a lot of head scratching going on. If he were to tell them to forget about politics, and focus on faith, I think he would have had an even more difficult time.  So, he used parables to make his points, and get people to talking and thinking.
  • The first two parables talk about how a little of the right thing can create gigantic results.  These talk about our faith and our sharing the Good News to others, even a little bit.  (vv. 31-33) 
  • The next two have to do with doing whatever it takes to obtain a precious thing.  Being part of the kingdom of God, or being one of God’s own children is this precious thing.  What would you do to obtain it?  What do we need to do to obtain it?  The answer is in the takeaway.  (vv. 44-46)  
  • Now we’re fishing!  ( I like this part!)  And, we catch a lot of fish, both good ones and bad ones.  When we get ashore, we sort them out, throwing away the junk fish. Jesus tells us that this is what it will be like at “the end of the age”, when he returns.  The sorting will be done by angels, and it ain’t gonna be pretty. How do we make sure we are a good “fish”?  (Same answer in the takeaway.)  (vv. 47-50)
  • The conclusion to this last parable is a little weird.  I take it to mean that now that we are trained in the kingdom of God, we can help the angels sort out fish!  (Maybe I got that one wrong.)  (vv. 51-52)

TAKEAWAY

How do we obtain this priceless treasure?  How do we make sure that we are one of the “good fish”?  By listening to and believing in Jesus.  If we do this from the heart, we should earnestly try to follow his teachings and value what he values.  His values and priorities are clearly stated by Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount and in the parables of the Kingdom of God.  We humans clearly have different ideas about this.  Jesus came to set us straight.  Maybe it’s time to re-evaluate.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

How much time do we spend each week thinking and talking about worldly things like hobbies, politics, business, etc.; and how much time do we spend loving each other (even our enemies), and caring for those less fortunate than us?