Week Thirteen: The King Who Had It All

I was tempted to call this week's lesson "The Frog King" but decided to go with the suggested title instead, "The King Who Had It All."  This week we come to the story of Solomon and in at least one book I've read he has been referred to as the "frog king."  That's because of an unusual experiment conducted years ago (without the permission of PETA I'm sure) where a frog was placed in a pot of boiling water.  Of course, the frog jumped out!  Frogs aren't stupid, after all.  Yet when the same frog was placed in a pot of comfortable, lukewarm water he sat back and relaxed nicely.  As the temperature of that water was slowly raised to the boiling point, the frog didn't budge.  He continued to sit back enjoying life while the water boiled around him... eventually to the point of boiling him to death!  Doesn't that describe the life of Solomon?

Solomon was handed life on a silver platter... literally!  (Actually Solomon's platter was probably gold since in his day silver was considered of little value.)  He had it all.  He had a great example in his father, David, who had secured the peace for Israel before handing the throne to Solomon.  He had all the wealth & riches one could imagine, and perhaps even more.  He had wisdom beyond his years and the respect of the nations around him.  Yet, his life ended in bitter disappointment and unfaithfulness.

"As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.  He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites.  So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely as David his father had done."  1 Kings 11:4-6

What happened to Solomon?  He started out with such promise.  He had every resource at his disposal and a heart devoted to God.  Yet, his story ends in bitter heartache... why?  Why didn't he jump out of the pot?  Why didn't he turn back to the LORD (and out of the boiling water) when he had the chance?

This week we're going to be exploring the life of Solomon and how it parallels so many in our day and time.  We may not have all the wealth he had... but we sure are familiar enough with the temptations of the world around us... and the pots of boiling water that they can be!  

Week Twelve: The Trials of a King

I read a story this week of a young boy who lived many years ago in one of the most rural parts of West Texas- which could've been about anywhere since West Texas is pretty much all rural.  For "facilities" his family used an old outhouse and the boy absolutely hated it because it was hot in the summer, cold in the winter and stunk all the time.  It sat on the bank of a creek and the boy fantasized about pushing it over one day into the water and watching it float away.

One afternoon after a hard spring rain the little creek became so swollen that the boy decided ti was his perfect chance!  He got an old 2 x 4 from the barn and used it as a giant crowbar, prying and pushing until the old outhouse toppled backward into the creek and floated away.  The boy wondered how long it would be before the "outhouse hit the fan," so to speak, and it didn't take long!  That evening, his dad told him they were going to the woodshed!  If you know what that means then you also understand why he was so scared.  Weighing his options, the boy decided to play innocent and asked why.  His father replied, "Someone pushed that old outhouse into the creek today.  Was it you, son?"  Realizing he was in a tough spot he decided to change strategies and go with the truth.  He answered, "Yes," and after a quiet pause, "Dad, I read in school last week that George Washington chopped down a cherry tree and didn't get into trouble because he told the truth."

His father replied, "Well, son, George Washington's father wasn't in that cherry tree!"

Randy Frazee tells that story and suggests that most of us can identify with it in at least three ways.  First, there is something inside of us which wants to do things our own way, regardless of the consequences... things which we know are wrong.  The Bible refers to this as the realm of "the flesh."  Second, our lack of goodness affects other people, not just us.  And many of us have been in some outhouses that were pushed over by others.  We've experienced the awful consequences of somebody else's sin.  Finally, none of us get away with keeping our little sinful acts secret.  We usually end up sinning even more -- lying and deceiving-- to cover up the truth of our bad choices.

I'm so glad we're not finished with the story of David and that this week we come to some of the desperate struggles he faced as king.  Even though David was established as a great and righteous king over all Israel, things were not always easy.  Success and especially power has a way of going to our heads and we let our guard down.  That's what David did, in a number of ways, and he got himself into a fine mess.  His sin affected not only his relationship with God, but also his entire family and the kingdom.  This week as you read through more of David's story pay careful attention to the way in which God continues to work in his story, despite David's failings, and even brings much good from it. 

Week Eleven: From Shepherd to King!

"The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want..."   

- David, king of Israel

Saul had the right look.  Saul had the right credentials.  Saul had the right experience.  Everybody thought Saul was the guy!  God blessed Saul and came upon him in power to be the first of Israel's kings.  The only problem was... Saul didn't have God.

Actually, Saul had God once upon a time.  He had been strong and faithful... but when he allowed his newly acquired power as king to go to his head, he decided he didn't have the same need for God that he once did.  He rejected the Lord and His leadership over Israel by his impetuousness and by his lack of trust... so the Lord rejected him.  God tore the kingship and the kingdom from Saul and promised to give it to another... a man after God's own heart who would be faithful and trustworthy.

That man was no man at all... at the time.  He was a young boy, the youngest of eight it seems in his family, who happened to be out tending the sheep of his father.  Nobody was aware yet that God had rejected Saul nor aware that God would choose young David to succeed him.  If they had been aware, I doubt many would have believed it.  Replace Saul.. strong, physically imposing, decisive... with David, a little boy who tended sheep and wrote poetry?

Yet that is exactly what God did.  He chose the "little boy David" and made him into Israel's greatest king... and the king by which every subsequent king would be compared against.  This week in The Story we come to our first encounter with David in what will be a two-part look at his life, his rise to power and his trials as king.  I hope you'll be reading along and joining us on Sunday in our continuing discussion through the incredible story of God!

This week read:  ch. 11 of The Story or 1 Samuel 16-18; 24; 31; 2 Sam 6; 22; 1 Chronicles 17 and Psalm 59

Week Ten: Standing Tall, Falling Hard

Keeping up with the Joneses isn't usually a good idea.  It's a really terrible one when the Joneses are headed down a dangerous path!

Do you remember when you were in middle school?  Despite my best efforts to block out such unpleasant memories, I sure do!  It was an awkward time... physically, mentally, emotionally AND spiritually for me.  I look back now and realize that I was trying to figure out who I was and who I was going to be... but at the time I would have just described it as awful.  I wasn't particularly athletic, but I looked around and wanted to be like all of the jocks in my school.... they made it look so cool and always had lots of friends, including cheerleaders.  Who wouldn't want to be admired like that.  Unfortunately, I couldn't shoot a basketball into a goal to save my life.  I was afraid of baseballs hurtling towards my head and I was too small to play football, so sports was pretty much out.  I looked at the "preppies" in my school and wanted to be like them.  They dressed like they had just walked off the set of "Saved by the Bell" and boy were they cool!  I could be like them, I thought.  I could look cool, too.

It can be a dangerous thing when we look around at others around us and only want to be like them... especially when we know that we've been called to be something different.  Such was the case with Israel in this week's lesson.  Called by God out from the world, they were supposed to represent God to the world.  But during the period when the judges ruled Israel, they got to looking around at the world and at the way other nations did business.... and came to the conclusion that they wanted a king like everybody else had.  Apart from it just being just a really stupid idea, what could be wrong with that?  What could be wrong with wanting a strong, Godly person to really take charge and run things the way they wanted them to be run?

It sounds almost.... I don't know... patriotic.  Doesn't it?  They were ready for independence.  They were ready to make decisions for themselves.  They were tired of being told what to do all of the time and were ready for someone to really lead them into bigger and better things!  The only problem was... in their rejection of the judges, they weren't only rejecting Samuel personally, they were rejecting God and His rule.  Their temptation was self-governance, self-rule and independence from God.... THAT was the problem and THAT is what doomed them to failure before the great experiment of a king even got off the ground.

This week as you read about Saul, Israel's first king, ask yourself... what area of my life am I still holding onto, wanting to rule myself instead of submitting it over to the Lord's rule?  Just a thought.