Tuesday after the Ninth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on August 20, 2019 by under
Scripture: 1 Kings 4:22-34 (NKJV)
4:22 Now Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty kors of fine flour, sixty kors of meal, 23 ten fatted oxen, twenty oxen from the pastures, and one hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fatted fowl.
24 For he had dominion over all the region on this side of the River from Tiphsah even to Gaza, namely over all the kings on this side of the River; and he had peace on every side all around him. 25 And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, each man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.
26 Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. 27 And these governors, each man in his month, provided food for King Solomon and for all who came to King Solomon’s table. There was no lack in their supply. 28 They also brought barley and straw to the proper place, for the horses and steeds, each man according to his charge.
29 And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore. 30 Thus Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 For he was wiser than all men—than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all the surrounding nations. 32 He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five. 33 Also he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree of Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish. 34 And men of all nations, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom, came to hear the wisdom of Solomon.
Devotion
Through the wise reign of King Solomon the people of Judah and Israel were governed quietly and peaceably so that they ate, drank, and were happy, to paraphrase 1 Kings 4:20. Verse 24 says, “For he [Solomon] had dominion over all the region…and he had peace on every side all around him.”
Through our baptism into Christ, believers have been brought into Christ’s kingdom. Jesus is our King, and we are His subjects. Jesus has defeated sin, death and the devil. We need fear no adversary. We trust that all things have been placed under His feet. After His death and resurrection, He came proclaiming to us peace. We believe that our God richly and daily provides us with all that we need to support this body and life. We also believe that He daily and richly forgives all of our sins and the sins of all believers.
The conclusion to the Lord’s Prayer speaks of God’s all-encompassing dominion, saying, “for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.” Solomon’s father, King David, expressed a similar confidence that God is able to do everything which He has promised, saying in 1 Chronicles 29:10-11, “Blessed be Thou, LORD God of Israel our Father, forever and ever. Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine; Thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and Thou art exalted as head above all.”
We pray: “Now unto Him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” (Eph. 3:20-21)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
