May 5, 2016

“Life is ten percent what you experience and ninety percent how you respond to it.” ~ Dorothy M. Neddermeyer

1 KINGS 10-11

Solomon impresses the Queen of Sheba...then his fatal flaw is revealed...

6She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. 7But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard. 8How happy your people must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! 9Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness.”

1King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4As 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. 5He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done. 

LUKE 24:1-35

Jesus appears to two of his disciples and they don't immediately recognize him...

25He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

28As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” 

JOURNAL

The blindness of Solomon and the disciples to the truth that was right in front of them is frustrating. I sit here and think how foolish and greedy could Solomon be and then in the same vein how silly that two disciples didn't even recognize Jesus. 

To me this clearly goes to show how blind we can become by our own ambition and grief. I know looking back I have too many occasions where I was blinded by grief, or fear or ambition. It seems so clear now how I chose paths that were filled with traps and snakes and danger.  I can clearly see how I chose these paths out of careless panic...either to try and survive or because I desperately thought it would give me what I wanted in the moment.  

Everyday God gives me choices and also is there with the signs and direction to choose a path of obedience. I must be willing to trust even when that path seems dark and scary. For God promises that if I follow in obedience he will be with me always.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)