1 Kings 3:16-28

A Wise Ruling

¹⁶ Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. ¹⁷ One of them said, “Pardon me, my lord. This woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was there with me. ¹⁸ The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us.

¹⁹ “During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him. ²⁰ So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast. ²¹ The next morning, I got up to nurse my son—and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t the son I had borne.”

²² The other woman said, “No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours.”

But the first one insisted, “No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine.” And so they argued before the king.

²³ The king said, “This one says, ‘My son is alive and your son is dead,’ while that one says, ‘No! Your son is dead and mine is alive.’”

²⁴ Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword for the king. ²⁵ He then gave an order: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”

²⁶ The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved out of love for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!”

But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!”

²⁷ Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother.”

²⁸ When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice.

- It is a story of 2 women fighting for a living baby and the people were awe in Solomon's wisdom to settle this dispute. If there is one thing you can ask from God, what will you ask? If you ask for wealth, you need to ask for wisdom to manage and keep the wealth. If you ask for status in the society, you need to ask for wisdom to keep up with your image or status. If you ask for a long life, you need to ask for good health, wealth and wisdom too. Let us pray for wisdom so we may live in His righteousness and lead a happy, joyful and blessed life. His wisdom and knowledge are far beyond our understanding.  

1 Kings 6:11-13 

¹¹ The word of the Lord came to Solomon: ¹² “As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, observe my laws and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father. ¹³ And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel.”

- From the book of Genesis to this modern day, God is always wanting us to obey His commandments and trust Him completely; for He has plans for us, plans not to harm us but to bless us. Likewise in the workplace and community we live in, we have to follow the rules and regulations that were set up. If there is anything happening and you are not comfortable, there is definitely a channel for you to report your concern instead of running away and breaking the laws. 

1 Kings 10:23-25

²³ King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. ²⁴ The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart. ²⁵ Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift—articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules.

- God blessed King Solomon with wisdom and he was marveled by many. Would you like to have a boss with great wisdom to bring the team and company to a higher level? Let us pray for God to bless our bosses with wisdom to run the team and the company, so we may continue to have a job to provide for ourselves (and family and people who are in need.)

1 Kings 11:29-35

²⁹ About that time Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, and Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh met him on the way, wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone out in the country, ³⁰ and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. ³¹ Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘See, I am going to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand and give you ten tribes. ³² But for the sake of my servant David and the city of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, he will have one tribe. ³³ I will do this because they have^[b] forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molek the god of the Ammonites, and have not walked in obedience to me, nor done what is right in my eyes, nor kept my decrees and laws as David, Solomon’s father, did. ³⁴ “‘But I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon’s hand; I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David my servant, whom I chose and who obeyed my commands and decrees. ³⁵ I will take the kingdom from his son’s hands and give you ten tribes.

- King Solomon loved many foreign women who had their own gods. 1 Kings 11:4 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. 1 Kings 11:11 So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. And it was Jeroboam, son of Nebat, one of Solomon’s officials, an Ephraimite from Zeredah. Be steadfast in your faith to the Lord. The day we accept Jesus Christ in our lives, we have to commit this relationship like a wedding vow - I, _____ , take God, my creator, to be the only God in my life, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death. Be faithful and very loyal to the Lord.

1 Kings 17:17-24 

¹⁷ Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. ¹⁸ She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?”

¹⁹ “Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. ²⁰ Then he cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” ²¹ Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!”

²² The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. ²³ Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!”

²⁴ Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”

- Elijah stayed with a widow and her son at Zarephath. Some time later, the son died.        What happened when you had problem at your workplace? Did you cry over spilt milk? Or did you quickly think of a solution? The son of the widow died and she questioned Elijah. Elijah carried the son to the upper room where he lived, and Elijah prayed to God. Likewise, we can quickly ask God to calm our nerves and quickly deal with the problem.  

1 Kings 18:36-38

³⁶ At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. ³⁷ Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”

³⁸ Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

- When Ahab was the King of Israel, he served and worshiped Baal. As instructed by the Lord, Elijah went to meet Ahab and asked that he brought 450 prophets of Baal to Mount Carmel. There, Elijah and 450 prophets of Baal, each had a bull placed on the wood. 450 prophets of Baal called upon Baal to set the bull on fire the whole day but nothing happened. But when Elijah prayed to the Lord, 1 Kings 18:36 the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. Do you have a personal god? Get rid of it. Do you place someone ahead of God? You might want to reflect on it and put the jealous God to be your number one person in your list. Have your career ever reached the stage that whatever you do it is not going any where and you are totally helpless? Pray to God. Trust God with your entire life, and ask Him to direct you, because He is God.