Seize the Moment – Day 808
Men Plot and God Wills!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Friday, June 3.
As we begin a new book of the Bible (1 Kings), we start with the same old story of people acting out of their fears, manipulating current events, and plotting to gain power. Not much has changed over the last three thousand years. As David laid on his death bed, Adonijah, like Absalom before him, took the initiative to make himself the next king of Israel. The heart of the drama is found in 1 Kings 1:13-14 where Nathan organized a plan with Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, to counter Adonijah’s conspiracy:
So now come, please let me give you counsel and save your life and the life of your son Solomon. Go at once to King David and say to him, “Have you not, my lord, O king, sworn to your maidservant, saying, ‘Surely Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne’? Why then has Adonijah become king?” Behold, while you are still there speaking with the king, I will come in after you and confirm your words.
Nathan the prophet had access to David and used it to bring about God’s will for the building of His temple through Solomon, as foretold to David (1 Chronicles 22:9-10). This was of paramount importance to David, as it was on his heart to do this for God. In the 2 Samuel 7 account, Nathan had mistakenly given David permission to build the temple but was given a word from God that forbade David from building the temple but secured a dynastic succession. Adonijah, as the eldest living son of David, thought that he could put himself on the throne of Israel, but that was the way of men. God is the one who establishes authority (Romans 13:1). Men plot and God wills!
Seize the moment and stop your plotting, trust God’s sovereign rule over the nations (Psalm 22:28; 47:8; 1 Chronicles 16:31).