2017 Recording:
The destiny of a king is preordained by God! Those who rely on the wisdom of Jehovah will never miss an opportunity; God will prepare opportunities for you and open up the path ahead! Wait for God's work, and God will surely exalt His anointed one among the people! This chapter reveals how King Solomon, a wise monarch of his generation, was able to ascend to the throne smoothly amidst various dangers! Who was helping him? Let's see how the teacher brilliantly shares the content of this chapter.
Questions for reflection:
What strategies did Adonijah use to compete for the throne? How did Solomon become king? What spiritual principles do you see from these two people?
According to 1 Kings, please compare the different ideologies of Adonijah and Solomon.
In your life, do you feel more secure relying on your own intelligence or on God's wisdom? What different life outcomes can these two concepts lead to?
Unseen Ruling Power in Human History
1 Kings Chapter 1 writes about how the descendants of King David succeeded David and began to reign. Whether to be king or not is the will of Heaven. This is not only the view of the Israelites, but also the view of people all over the world. For example, Liu Bang, you will find this person very strange, how can he not be killed, even at the Hongmen Banquet he can escape. The story is like this, Xiang Yu was very powerful, and even destroyed the Qin Dynasty. After the Qin Dynasty was destroyed, Xiang Yu's strategist said that Liu Bang must be killed, because this person is remarkable, and it will be a big trouble if he is not killed today. As a result, Xiang Yu, nicknamed the Overlord, was soft-hearted and let Liu Bang slip away. How did Liu Bang slip away? The classical Chinese says, Liu Bang got up to go to the toilet, that is, he went out to the toilet, and then slipped away, and Xiang Yu had no chance to kill him. Later, Xiang Yu experienced surrounded by enemies on all sides and was killed by Liu Bang, and then Liu Bang established the Han Dynasty.
We will find that there will be an invisible force in human history that is in power, that is, who becomes king seems to be destined by Heaven. Today, when we look at history, some people call this historical materialism. In fact, it should not be viewed this way. In fact, human history is ruled by God, and God says who will be king. We must grasp a principle, who becomes king is ruled by God. Later, Solomon became king, and what we saw was the struggle between people, but in fact, 1 Kings wants to tell us a principle that God says who will be king. What Adonijah did has no value! If we do Adonijah in our own affairs, tossing and scheming to sit in this position, and finally fail to sit in it, what we get is humiliation. You must know that human scheming is a foolish act. Adonijah is foolish in that he is scheming there. He does not know that the world is ruled by God.
Rely on God's Wisdom
There are two kinds of people, one kind relies on their own wisdom and intelligence, and the other kind relies on God's wisdom and intelligence. I will tell you a key point, relying on God's wisdom and intelligence, basically things will not fail. In the workplace, do not engage in infighting, just determine to look up to Jehovah God.
When I was young, I heard a saying, Don't read Water Margin when you are young, and don't read Three Kingdoms when you are old. Why not read Water Margin when you are young, because there are many fights in Water Margin, why not read Three Kingdoms when you are old, because the characters in Three Kingdoms have too much scheming. For example, Zhuge Liang, who is like a god, but in the end he died of calculation. Adonijah also calculated himself to death. So, don't use calculation, that's not the way.
Giving birth to a son should be like Solomon. When Solomon was young, he was a person who simply looked up to God. Wisdom comes from God. Human strategy really cannot accomplish anything. The Bible strongly opposes human strategy. What the Bible praises is simply looking up to God. If you examine carefully, you will find what kind of people live well and what kind of people do not live well. Zhuge Liang did not live well, and Sun Quan did not live well, very hard! If I want to raise a son, I don't want my son to live like that. I hope my son can become a person who simply looks up to God and fears God, so that he does not have to live in busyness. Because human scheming is all vanity, read Proverbs carefully. Human scheming is vanity, and he puts himself into it.
The Ending of Things Can Determine the Success or Failure of Things
In fact, Joab and Abiathar are very regrettable. Where is their regret? It lies in the fact that they did not understand the whole thing. Let's look at Joab first. Why didn't Joab understand? Because Joab is a typical person who achieves things by relying on human schemes. Indeed, he has achieved some things by relying on his own schemes. Joab is very smart, but his scheming finally brought him the disaster of being killed. We should not only look at how it started, but also look at the ending. The Bible must make people understand many, many spiritual principles. Therefore, after reading the Bible, we must understand that the beginning of things is not as good as the ending of things, and the ending of things can determine how things will eventually turn out.
Today, let's take a closer look at Joab. From a human perspective, Joab has indeed achieved a great career: he is a mighty warrior, the marshal of Israel, very powerful, but his final ending is not good, and he lives in a very hard state. What truth does the Bible reveal to us here? That is, even if a person has achieved many things, like Zhuge Liang and Sun Quan, who have achieved many things, they are also very remarkable figures, but these will eventually become vanity. In the next chapter, we will read about Joab being killed.
In fact, in the process of human scheming, there will be a strong sense of insecurity. Why did Joab do this? Because he felt that he could still be in power when he did this. This love for power becomes a snare for people. How should those who trust in God live? Those who trust in God should say that I will do what God has arranged for me. It's very simple! This way of living sounds unacceptable to you, but if you think about it carefully, in fact, what a person does and what power he has cannot guarantee that he can have a good ending. Even if you were once a powerful figure, you will inevitably end up as a prisoner. What's the use? So everyone should start to wake up. Like Joab's life, like climbing a mountain, he racked his brains to scheme this and scheme that, climbed to the highest, became the marshal of the Israeli army, but he continued to walk this road, and the result was a cliff in front of him. Therefore, the Bible shows us through this story that if the ending is not good, these are vanity.
Joab is such a person who only relies on his own wisdom and intelligence. The Bible strongly denies that people should rely on their own wisdom and intelligence. Because even if a person's wisdom and intelligence can achieve some things, the final ending is a very tragic ending. We will find that David, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, these people all had very good endings, old age, and then they slept and returned to their ancestors. How good is such an ending! In this way, we can engrave on our tombstones: This person served this generation and then returned to God. What a wonderful thing! So brothers and sisters, do not look at the appearance of things. People can indeed achieve great careers by relying on themselves, but it is not of much use.
Personal Desires Lead People Astray
Let us look at Abiathar again. Abiathar was a priest, could he not see clearly? How could a priest go astray? In reality, once a person has personal desires, they will be led astray by those desires. Abiathar was led by his personal desires and went down a path to his death. Where do these personal desires come from? These desires come from insecurity. Because he lacked security, he did not know what the future held. He felt he should remain the high priest. No matter who becomes king, if I support him to be king, I can remain the high priest. This is how he thought. If I remain the high priest, I will control all the rights of the priesthood. Maybe I can ensure my safety and that of my family by being the high priest. If I step down from this position, all my benefits will disappear. It is pathetic that people are driven by self-interest. We must consider what we would do if we were in that situation. Do not use human actions to protect your interests, but learn to rely solely on God.
Therefore, once a person is tempted, they think: I must work hard, or what will I eat in the future? This idea sounds right, but the foundation is still based on works. It is not doing something that guarantees our future life. This does not mean we should not work hard, but we should work hard based on trusting in our God. It is not because we feel insecure that we do things, but because we feel secure that we do things. These are completely different. I have no worries, and I do not need to worry about my future because my future is in God's hands.
Insecurity Brings a Spirit of Control
Therefore, once a person has concerns, once they lack security, they will use human methods to control. When they try to control, evil spirits enter, and that is called the spirit of control. The spirit of control deceived Abiathar that he could only be safe if he had power. Is that really safe? Not at all. Where is safety? Safety is in our God. We see Adonijah using his strategies to sit on the throne, and Abiathar coveting his position and power, wanting to support Adonijah to be king. Joab also wanted to support Adonijah to be king for his own benefit, and they ended up forming an alliance of interests.
Adonijah, Joab, and Abiathar the priest formed a powerful political alliance. Solomon relied on David and was determined to go through normal channels, not relying on these crooked ways and conspiracies. Then King David arranged everything for Solomon. What does this mean? We seek our God and go through normal channels. We are the king's son. If the king says you will succeed him as king, then you will succeed him as king. The king will arrange everything for you, just as Solomon became king. We can extend this to ourselves: if God arranges you in that position, He will prepare everything for you. Just live peacefully. So, brothers and sisters, do not fall into your own schemes; your own schemes will become your snare. When we read Proverbs and apply these stories to Proverbs, we find that Proverbs is very accurate.
A person weaves a net for himself and then jumps into it. Why bother? I simply do not weave this net, and I do not jump into it. I wholeheartedly rely on my God. Since God is a living God, let us rely on this true and living God. He is not an idol. Our God can do anything. How good it is to simply rely on Him to live. I began to see that God is so wonderful. If God gives you a position, you should do what you should do in peace, enjoy what you do, and still enjoy what you do no matter what happens. That is called faith. Faith integrated into life is like this. We will face challenges in our lives, so everyone begins to learn to live a simple life, and there is also a simple lifestyle in the mind. How simple? Just trust in God!
Wait for God; He Will Surely Open a Way for You
In the end, a person who trusts in God does not need to rush to kill your opponent. This is Solomon's wisdom. Solomon's wisdom is not like what ordinary people think, to kill Adonijah. He did not do this. Why? He did not shed innocent blood. He did not kill anyone who threatened his position to protect his position. That is not what he did. Chapter 2 tells how he killed Adonijah. Solomon gave Adonijah a warning today: If he proves to be a worthy man, not one of his hairs shall fall to the earth, but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die. Therefore, brothers and sisters, learn to wait for God. God will surely open a way for you, because our safety is not based on what others have done, but on what God has done in us. How good it is to live like this!