Text:

¹¹ Then Nathan said to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, “Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith has become king and David our lord does not know it? ¹² Now therefore come, let me give you advice, that you may save your own life and the life of your son Solomon. ¹³ Go in at once to King David, and say to him, ‘Did you not, my lord the king, swear to your servant, saying, “Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne”? Why then is Adonijah king?’ ¹⁴ Then while you are still speaking with the king, I also will come in after you and confirm your words.” (1 Kings 1:11-14)

Context, Context, Context: King David was now an old man. He had been a man of war for years. The consequences of his sin against Uriah and his (David’s) adultery with Bathseba, as well as his (David’s) disastrous relationship with his son Absalom were coming full circle. David was still king, yes, but his power was weakening in myriad ways. He was physically diminished; he was old (1 Kings 1:1), etc. And David’s enemies thought it was the time to strike, the time to assert themselves to gain power, and to install themselves as king in David’s stead. Adonijah saw himself as that man, as one willing to try and replace David and David’s son, Solomon.

Teaching: And yet God had his servant, Nathan. Nathan was a phenomenal prophet. He was a truth-teller. He was God’s man for David, just as David was God’s man. So Nathan goes to David’s now-wife Bathsheba and explains to her Adonijah’s wicked plan to replace David as king. Bathsheba lets David in on Adonijah’s plot. God was determined, you see, to bring about the immediate son (Solomon) as king, but ultimately God the Son as king. That’s what this is all about.

No powers of hell or schemes of man can topple God’s plan for Christ as king. As Psalm 2 phrases it, “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” But then you get to verse 4: “He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.”

Encouragement: Folks can and do try to outsmart God. That is clear. But what should be even more obvious is this: that’s a fool’s errand. You can deny reality but reality still wins. You can mock God, but God still is. You can plot and scheme and lie, but God still sees and God is holy. You can take counsel together against the Lord, but God laughs at you. There’s no outsmarting God’s plan, and his plan was and is and ever shall be this: Christ is king.

Servant leadership. The phrase is so often used that it has perhaps suffered from overuse as a term. There is nothing wrong with the phrase but it perhaps needs a bit of clarification.

Questions:

• How many of us know people in positions of leadership but who fail at serving people?
• How many of us know people who covet the title of “leader” but fall short of leading selflessly?

Connection: At the church I’m privileged to pastor, we are currently going verse be verse through 1 Peter. The apostle of hope ends the second chapter of that epistle by going in-depth on what it means to serve people well. In verses 18-19, for example, he writes, “Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly” (1 Peter 2:18-19).

A key phrase in that passage is “mindful of God.” What Peter means there is this: biblical leaders are to lead well because they live out a life that demonstrates reverence for God. God is the leader’s commander, if you will. And the leader is mindful of that. That cognizance shapes the trajectory of his leading the people God has sent him to shepherd. That awareness of God’s evaluation of his leadership leads him into humble servant leadership of people God has ransomed by his own blood.

Encouragement: Like all things in Scripture, Christ is the supreme model. He is to be the biblical leader’s perfect paradigm. He’s the model. Do we men fall short of that standard? Of course. But that is not reason to not aim for that standard. Servant leadership is a fine phrase; it’s living that out before God and his people that tests one’s mettle.

Text:

14 Do not enter the path of the wicked,
    and do not walk in the way of the evil.
¹⁵ Avoid it; do not go on it;
    turn away from it and pass on.
¹⁶ For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong;
    they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble.
¹⁷ For they eat the bread of wickedness
    and drink the wine of violence.
¹⁸ But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
    which shines brighter and brighter until full day. (Pr 4:14-18)

Teaching: Solomon instructs his son in wisdom. The father teaches the son the ungliness of folly and the beauty of wisdom. Solomon provides the imagery of two different paths. One path is trod by the wicked. The wicked “walk in the way of evil” (v. 14b). And Solomon instructs his son plainly: “Avoid it [the path of the wicked]; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on” (v. 15). Walk the beautiful path, the path of wisdom.

Then Solomon describes the moral character of those who trod the path of evil. He tells his son that those who trod that path “cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble” (v. 16). There are some folks whose lives are restless; therefore, they meddle in other people’s lives. They stir the pot, we might say. They are nosy people. They insert themselves into our lives without invitation. They “eat the bread of wickedness,” (v. 17), Solomon writes.

That’s a pretty unsavory individual, the one who refuses to stay in his lane. He just cannot be content; therefore, he meddles. He intrudes. He is nosy. And he’s an irritant.

Encouragement: We’re to turn away from such people and walk the path of the righteous. Why? Because that path “shines brighter and brighter until full day” (v. 18b). We’re to keep our hearts “with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (v. 23).

Introduction: “Take a knee.” It’s a welcome phrase we hear sometimes as soldiers, especially when we’re physically exhausted, spent, and our gas tank is running on empty. (Yes, I’m hearing Jackson Browne’s song in my head, too, now.) Here’s the way Browne wrote about this feeling:

runnin’ on empty
(Runnin’ on) runnin’ blind
(Runnin’ on) runnin’ into the sun
But I’m runnin’ behind

Regardless of our stations in life, I would think all of us have experienced seasons when we knew that we were running on empty and that we needed to take a knee.

Connection to Scripture: In 1 Samuel 30, it’s a low time in the life of David. His wives had been captured by the wicked pagans, the Amalekites. Much of the territory had been reduced to scorched earth. The invaders had taken captives. And the word on the street got back to David that he was a wanted man (1 Samuel 30:5). David was running on empty. David very much needed to take a knee.

Text and Teaching: But listen to what Scripture records about this incident and learn what it has to teach all of us who have found ourselves running on empty and in need of taking a knee: “And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God” (1 Samuel 30:6).

Encouragement: First, David was self-aware. Second, because David was self-aware, he turned to God. David knew the situation was too much for human effort to conquer. He knew where he needed to look for strength, and he did it. He strengthened himself “in the LORD his God.” There’s much wisdom here, dear ones. Some battles are too big for us. If we think they’re not, that may be a sign of our hubris. Let us be self-aware and turn to the One whose strength is all-powerful and holy and not delude ourselves into webs of entrapment woven by human vanity.

The prophetic voice is a gift of God’s grace.

Questions: When you hear the word prophet, what comes to your mind? Does it usher in thoughts of ease and comfort? When you study the lives of men like Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, are ease and comfort what you find with those men? Or is it more accurate to say that God’s prophets meet with resistance from forces hostile to God and God’s ways? The questions answer themselves, of course.

Text:

When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites, the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. And I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.” (Judges 6:7-10)

Teaching: In Judges 6, as in sundry other passages from Judges, God sends prophetic voices to wake the people up from spiritual slumber and apostasy. The prophetic voice is a gift of God’s grace.

Verse 7 of Judges 6 records that “the people of Israel cried out to the LORD . . .”
Why? Because they were being overrun by the Midianites. And what did God do in his grace? He sent them a prophet. The truth-telling prophet called the people back to God, to the history of God’s fidelity, to God’s providential hand, and the prophet called the people to trust. He didn’t call them to trust wicked leaders; he called them to trust God and God’s messenger.

Encouragement: May God grant hearts and minds that discern God’s truth-telling prophets. Why? Because the prophetic voice is a gift of God’s grace.