PAULA WISEMAN

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Posts that reference the book of 1 Kings

1 Kings

The Rest of the Story

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So he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.” 1 Kings 19:10

In 1 Kings 19, Elijah has reached the end of his rope. He was under a death threat from Jezebel. He lived in a culture with total disregard for God and wanton disrespect for His messengers. He felt utterly isolated and exhausted. God tenderly provided for Elijah’s physical needs of food and rest. Then God asked Elijah to stand before him. A great wind, an earthquake, and a fire passed by, but God was not in any of those. Instead, He manifested Himself in a still, small voice. God told Elijah the rest of the story. There were seven thousand in Israel, whose knees have not bowed to Baal. He was not alone. Not only that God was ready to take action.

It is not unusual to turn on the television and come away discouraged. It is easy to read the statistics about Millennials or Generation Y or Z, about trends in morality or thoughts on faith and walk away shaken and dismayed. The kingdom of God seems to be losing ground on every measurable front. Church attendance is down. Religious identification is slipping. Influence is bottoming out. Social scientists regularly discuss the post-Christian West.

Persecution, violence, hatred, conflict, oppression, and despair fill our news feeds to the point where sometimes a “fast” is in order just to prevent a complete overload. And if you don’t happen to be serving in a vibrant, growing community of faith, there is a tendency to weariness and frustration.

But sometimes in the face of all those situations, God shows you the rest of the story.

This past weekend, we took my son on a college visit to a small Bible college. Three hundred other prospective students were there, all of them anxious to embrace the call of God on their lives and eager to gain the necessary knowledge and experience to fulfill that call. They would join a student body of four times that many. And there are colleges like this across the country, full of faithful, energetic young men and women, all dedicated to advancing the kingdom of God. The battle is hardly lost.

When we focus on the wind and the earthquake and the fire … we can miss what God has been quietly doing all along. We can miss the rest of the story.

 

 

Singularly Devoted

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And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word. 1 Kings 18:21

This is one of my favorite stories. Israel, under King Ahab, was suffering through a drought that was dragging into its fourth year. This drought had been proclaimed by Elijah, who boldly declared there would be no rain or even dew except at his word. (17:1) The drought devastated the agrarian economy, and neither the king nor Jezebel the queen, nor the hundreds of prophets of Baal on her payroll had been able to do anything about it.

Israel was torn. Jehovah was the God of their ancestors and certainly they were bound to sacrifice and pray to Him, Baal was the god of fertility and crops. Wouldn’t it be wise to court his favor as well? It made logical sense. Hedge the bets. Cover the bases.

It is easy to read this account with a condescending smile. Who could be so foolish as to try and follow God and an idol? Everyone knows idols aren’t real. But we grab the latest self-help book to find peace, balance our lives, raise our self-esteem, overcome our past. We chase diets and success and follow plans and regimens. We buy apps and organizers and planners and monitors to streamline and optimize. We pull from everything culture tells us we should be. Then we go to church and small group and we disciple and we’re intentional and missional. Just like we should be. Covering all the bases. Checking all the boxes.

Late in the afternoon after the prophets of Baal had exhausted themselves trying to impress a god who could never hear, Elijah prayed, “LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that You are the LORD God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.”

Then the fire of God fell.

A single man, singularly devoted to the one true God.

The one true God is unlike any other. He is a God who loves us intently, who desires a relationship with us, so much so that He came and lived among us. He is the Word made flesh. He is Immanuel. Don’t falter. Don’t waffle. Don’t be like the people of Israel who stood in silence. Be that one singularly devoted to the one true God.

Noise

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man using a megaphoneA couple of weeks ago, at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium, fans broke the record for volume registering 142.2 decibels at one point in the second quarter. That’s louder than a military jet and 12 decibels past the threshold of pain for most people.

You don’t have to watch very much television to realize the volume of the commercials is noticeably louder than the regular programming.

In this upcoming political season, you’ll notice that as soon as the candidates start losing on substantive issues, they increase their volume.

It seems everything around us clamors for attention with volume, with bells and whistles and bright colors. With a marked desperation culture yells, “Look at me. Choose me. Love me.”

Noise, and more noise.

God doesn’t need noise. In fact, sometimes His most dramatic, His most personal, His most needed messages come in a whisper.

In 1 Kings 19, the prophet Elijah is exhausted and discouraged. He has looked at the nation around him and determined they had completely abandoned God and His precepts. They were enamored with the glamorous queen and the institutionalized idol worship she brought from her homeland.

Elijah felt isolated, alone and powerless. How could he compete with the noise?

Then God told him to stand on the mountain. Elijah witnessed wind powerful enough to tear the rocks in two. It was followed by a terrifying earthquake and then a firestorm. Elijah probably thought THIS was what the people needed. If God manifested Himself with this kind power, they would turn from those silly idols …

But God didn’t speak through the powerful displays. He spoke in a “still, small voice.”

Quiet. Gentle.

The lesson for Elijah – I don’t need noise. I don’t need to compete. And for the record, the opposition is not winning.

We go through similar seasons when we feel alone, powerless and isolated. Or when we feel like a thousand different things are demanding our attention and we have trouble even choosing which one to focus on.

Turn down the noise. Stand on the mountain … and listen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

From a Boy to a Man

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This past weekend, we celebrated my son’s thirteenth birthday. My husband threw him a party and gave him a commission. It was deeply meaningful and powerful, and I hope you don’t mind my sharing it. 

 

Alan birthday 022smWe begin the ceremony of commissioning Alan into manhood. Unfortunately, one of the greatest living men, my father, wasn’t able to attend. He is fulfilling a commitment that he made before God to provide for another. He embodies much of what I want you to be. As good an example as Charles Emerson Wiseman is, I ask you to follow an even higher standard, that is the standard given to you by God.

As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who has his quiver full of them. God has seen fit to give us three arrows so far.

An arrow is made of three parts, the tip, the shaft and the feathers. The tip is the business end. It is hard, sharp and dangerous. You will have to be hard sometimes. You will have to do what is right in spite of adversity. You will have to endure many trials without help from anyone you can see. Enduring trials is difficult, but you never have to endure your trials alone. I will not always be with you, just as my Dad won’t always be with me. These other men will not always be with you, the spouse that God provides you will not always be with you, but Jesus will NEVER leave you or forsake you. Trust in Him. Lean on Him.

You will need to be sharp. It is much easier to cut with a sharp knife. If the knife is dull, the labor is increased. You are being sharpened by your mother, but you are becoming responsible for keeping your blade sharp. Study. Study to show yourself approved before God, a workman who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. Be as wise as a serpent, but as harmless as a dove.  Walk circumspectly, looking around you, because the days are evil.

Being sharp is useful and dangerous. Every man here has cut his finger with a sharp knife. Understand that you have the power of destruction within you. Be careful. You must understand that your activities and your words must be tempered with love or you will destroy or at least harm others.

The arrow has a shaft. If the shaft is not straight, the arrow will not fly true. Guard your heart. Make a covenant with your eyes. Confess freely. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and do not lean toward your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.  I will pray for you as long as I live, but this begins a time in your life when I won’t always be around. I encourage you to keep yourself from evil.

Lastly, the arrow has feathers. Feathers slow down the arrow and keep it flying true. Running full bore into some situations will not be wise. Be patient and wait on the Lord. He will not always act in the timeframe that you want Him to act in. He is God, you are not. Trust His timing and not your own. Emotions are a wonderful gift from God. God Himself is emotional, laughing, regretting, rejoicing. But I encourage you to act on Truth, not emotion. Our hearts are deceitful. Our anger does not work out God’s righteousness. I am not saying be emotionless, that would be an awful existence. I am saying be patient, don’t act on your emotions or you may do something you later regret. Remember, you have the power of destruction within you.

An arrow is like a book. Both are useless if not put into service. I am proud to have you in my quiver, but I have raised you to accomplish God’s purpose for and in your life. You have been mine, but you will always be His. We have come to a day, where I must say, Son, my son, it is time to start being a man. This is a process. This has to be a process because I need time as much as you do. I want to commit to you to give you room, room to succeed on your own and room to fail.

A few words on being a man. Men are not perfect. Ask any woman. We love to get things done. We break things, but because we are men, we fix them. Other people break things, but because we are men we fix those things, too. We don’t just want the bandage; we want to go to the heart of what is wrong and make it right. We thrive on clarity, facts, truth, justice and black and white.

We sometimes act before we think. We have to fight laziness. We commit before we consider. We are fragile, sometimes doing things because our heart aches and doing is the thing we know best for therapy. We have egos that we seek to have propped up and that can lead us to bad decisions.

We have to learn that sometimes the woman in our life doesn’t want things fixed. She wants something that is hard for us, to give our undivided attention and listen. As you develop into a mature man, do not neglect your heart. Sometimes it is easy for us to go through the fire, but hard for us to be still and know the He is God and we are not. You will have a struggle or maybe struggles as your relationship with God develops. You will have done everything you know to do and the problem is still there. At these points, all you can do is fully rely on God and let him guide you.

Alan birthday 026smBe wise, be aware, be loving, and be strong.

I almost fear to use David’s advice to Solomon. Not because David’s advice was poor, but because Solomon’s obedience was. I trust that you will be wiser than Solomon, so that I can give you the same advice, and you will excel far above Solomon.

Someday I will go the way of all the earth. You be strong and be a man. Obey the Lord your God’s charge to you, walk in His ways, keep His statutes and judgments and testimonies so that you might prosper in His service. (1 Kings 2:4, KJV)

Now you, my son Alan, know the God of your fathers and serve Him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of your thoughts: if you seek him, you will find Him, but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off. Listen now, for the LORD has chosen you for a special work. Be strong and do it.

 

Things ended with the men in attendance gathered around praying blessings over my son, then his father presented him with a signet ring to mark the occasion.

 

 

 

Study Tip: Song of Solomon

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In 1 Kings 4:32, we have this record of Solomon. "He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five." While hundreds of his proverbs are preserved, we only have one song. Song of Solomon is probably one of the least studied books in the canon of Scripture but one of the most practical. It's a candid celebration of courtship, marital intimacy, and mature love. That candor makes a lot of folks uncomfortable and for many years, the book was treated as allegory and spiritualized to the point that it didn't make much sense. For this book especially use the first rule of interpretation – The simplest, most obvious interpretation is best.
 
Let's address some issues that cause folks to shy away from the Song-
 
Solomon? Didn't he have hundreds of wives? How is he qualified to speak on this?
Solomon had God-given wisdom that no other man possessed. Unlike the Solomon in Ecclesiastes, this Song pictures a young man, chasing hard after God and His ways in every aspect of his life, including his marriage. It's God-inspired and God-preserved. The multiple wives happened after the conclusion of the events in the Song. 
 
What is it even talking about?
For starters, it's poetry which means the language is rich in metaphors, similes and word pictures. Then when you add the fact that it's deeply rooted in ancient Hebrew culture and customs it can be difficult to interpret. This is where a good study Bible will help. If you don't have one, update the language. If you don't think a neck like an ivory tower is particularly attractive, what sweet nothing would make you gooey inside? 
 
My sister, my spouse? Seriously?
Again, we have a cultural disconnect. There's nothing Freudian about it. Solomon and his bride wish for such a degree of closeness, that being womb-mates is the way he expresses it. It sounds a little unsettling to our ears, but he meant in the best way. In other spots, his bride says she wished Solomon was her brother. The reason is brothers and sisters were allowed to be affectionate in public. Decorum dictated that the King and his wife be prim and proper. She just wishes she could hug him or hold his hand or something. Purely innocent.
 
How can we get anything out of it?
1. Know who's speaking – The Song switches between the Bride, Solomon and a Chorus, the daughters of Jerusalem. Occasionally a few others pop in for a line or two. If your Bible doesn't help you out with divisions by speaker, use one that does. (One caution: While the words of Scripture are inspired, the section divisions and labels aren't. There may be some differences from one Bible to the next.)
 
2. Use a good study Bible or commentary – This is the easiest way to get the inside track on all those cultural references. (Recently I read What the Bible Says about Love, Marriage and Sex by David Jeremiah. It's straightforward, easy-to-understand and balanced between ancient wisdom and contemporary application. There are plenty of other good ones, too.)
 
3. Trust yourself when it comes to the poetic language – It probably means what you think it does.
 
While culture and society have loudly taken up the cause of illicit or immoral sex, the church has chosen to respond largely with silence. Song of Solomon demonstrates that God sanctions and blesses sex within the boundaries He established. Trust me, a walk through this book is well worth the time and effort (especially if you're the hopeless romantic type.)
 
So have you ever ventured to study Song of Solomon?
 
 

 

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Study Tip: 1 & 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles

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1 & 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles detail the history of Israel from the end of David's reign until the Babylonian captivity. If history isn't your thing, these may be difficult books to study. The unfamiliar (but often similar) names and different spellings for those names add an extra challenge. But don't get discouraged. We are used to names changes- When I was a kid the capital of China was Peking. Now it's Beijing. The names in Kings reflect that same cultural shift in spelling between the generations of historians.
 
These books form the framework for the rest of the Old Testament since the prophetic writings fit in between the narratives in these books. For instance, Lamentations is Jeremiah's poem written after he witnessed the devastation of Jerusalem's fall. Knowing the history gives a better insight into the prophets.
 
Details aside, there are three great threads that run through these books-
 
God's promise to David. Notice how God reiterates His covenant and preserves David's line.
God keeps His word – including the promises of judgment. The messages delivered by appointed prophets underscores this.
Obedience matters. Each king's reign includes an assessment of where he stood before God. Notice how the people responded to the king's obedience (or disobedience) and the consequences.
 
 
If you want a quick survey hitting some of the highlights and notable people, check out the following chapters in Kings and their Chronicles cross references.
 
 
 
Do you like reading the history books in the Bible?
 
Next week's study tip – Romans