Week #21 | "Solomon the Wise"

LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?

Read 1 Kings 2-3, 1 Chronicles 1, Psalms 72 and 127, and Proverbs 1-16

THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

But first, seek wisdom (1 Kings 2-3, 1 Chronicles 1, and Proverbs 15). One of the most notable things about Solomon was his pursuit of wisdom. When this pursuit was centered around the wisdom that comes from God, Solomon was at his best--that's the version of him that we see in Week #21: he is writing Proverbs, composing Psalms, handing down landmark rulings in court, and seeking the face of God. The sure-footed early career of Solomon testifies to the tragedy of his ethical downfall later. Imagine of Solomon had actually kept, throughout his life, just these few of the following verses in Proverbs 15:

v. 5 "whoever heeds reproof is prudent"

v.10 "whoever hates reproof will die"

v. 12 "A scoffer does not like to be reproved; he will not go to the wise."

v. 14 "The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge"

v. 22 "Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed"

v. 31-33 "The ear that listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise. Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence. The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor."

Solomon must surely have had some advisers caution him along the way, to point him back to God, much like Nathan the Prophet did for David. But for whatever reason, if Solomon had those advisers, he stopped listening. He became proud. But younger Solomon knew better than older Solomon did. And if younger Solomon had stuck to the course that he set, older Solomon's story wouldn't have been so much of a tragedy. We too can listen to younger Solomon -Solomon the Wise- and commit ourselves to being people who will seek wisdom and who will accept correction. That's what it means to seek wisdom first: to prize it so highly that we would rather hear from others first before we go too far down the wrong path ourselves.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. One other thing that stands out to me is how many kinds of things Solomon applied himself to. He didn't get stuck just working with law and governance, but he did a little composing too. And he didn't just do that, but he also read widely and composed collections of proverbs. And not only did he do that, but he was also a builder and a diplomat. God has given us a wide variety of capabilities--more, probably, than we could begin to explore in a single lifetime. But if Solomon was able to try a little bit of this, and a little of that, maybe you have an instrument you can still learn, or a book to write, or a big renovation or building project, or maybe it turns out you've got an eye for camerawork and might have a productive second career filming documentaries. Former U.S. President George W. Bush went on after his presidency to take up painting; maybe God put a little Rembrandt in you, too. Is this year the one where you begin to explore some of those other gifts?

Jesus Succeeds Where We Have Failed. Early on, Solomon is depicted as the ideal successor to King David. He is wise, he is capable, he is strong, he cares about the things of God, he rules with justice (although, maybe that is arguable if you are Joab). He eventually rules over the largest territory that Israel ever possessed--though that is still short of Israel's total promised inheritance. But ultimately Solomon doesn't turn out to be the Promised Deliverer that was foretold to David: Solomon is not the one who God will raise up to eternally rule on David's throne. Instead, many centuries later, Jesus would be born in Bethlehem -the city of David- after a long line of David's successors had failed and split the Kingdom and led the people astray. And Jesus succeeds where they didn't. He turns the people towards God. He presents true wisdom. He establishes the standard of justice, righteousness, and holiness. In fact, he extends his righteousness to all who follow him! But the rise and fall of Solomon reminds us that there is one beyond Solomon who we need: as one band once wrote, "the shadow proves the sunshine," and the failure of Solomon points to one who provides a greater wisdom and a better Kingdom.

DO | HOW DO WE RESPOND?

How can we respond in our worship, attitude, and actions? IN OUR ACTIONS, I think we can apply the above by seeking out correction and wise counsel and trying different things. IN OUR WORSHIP I think we can use our own failures to remind us of our need for one greater than ourselves, who redeems us and purifies us from the shame of our failings.

PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US TO GOD?

Whether in response to anything pointed out here, or to something else in your Bible reading time, take a few moments before you close up your Bible to pray in response to God. If you need a format for prayer, both the ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication), CALL (Confess, Ask, Love, Listen), and PRAY (Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield) methods are helpful ways to stay consistent.

-Sean

Days #121-139 | "Spending Time With the Psalms"

LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?

Day #121: Read Psalms 8, 10, 11, and 14 (David's Psalms)

Day #122: Read Psalms 15, 16, 19, and 20

Day #123: Read Psalms 21-24

Day #124: Read Psalms 27-28 and 30-31

Day #125: Read Psalms 32, 33, and 36

Day #126: Read Psalms 37-39

Day #127: Read Psalms 40-41, 53, and 55

Day #128: Read Psalms 58, 61, and 62

Day #129: Read Psalms 64, 65, and 6

Day #130: Read Psalms 67, 68, and 70

Day #131: Read Psalms 69, 86, and 101

Day #132: Read Psalms 108-109 and 122

Day #133: Read Psalms 124, 131, 133, 138, and 139

Day #134: Read Psalms 1140-142

Day #135: Read Psalms 143-145

Day #136: Read Psalms 50, 73, and 74 (Asaph's Psalms)

Day #137: Read Psalms 75-77 and 79

Day #138: Read Psalms 78 and 80

Day #139: Read Psalms 81-83

Day #140: Read Psalms (Last day of section: May 19th)

THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

The songs of David - the school of worship. While it does not seem that all of the Psalms in the section marked "David's Psalms" were actually written by David (there are no attributions to David in the headers for Psalms 10 and 33, to take just two examples). these songs and prayers are still true to David's work. So we see that he approaches his faith expressed through song in a variety of ways: he praises God and calls for others to join in. He also laments and weeps before God. He meditates on the grace that God has given man in Psalm 8:3-6; then, he diagnoses all outward denial of God as foolishness in Psalm 14:1-7. Towards the end of the Psalms, David's voice reappears after a long silence to announce -in the context of the literary shape of the book of Psalms- the arrival of a true and better David who will rule the earth with grace and justice. This is especially the case in Psalms 138-145, where the return of David's consistent voice in Book 5 of the Psalms gives way to the final "fireworks" of praise statements in Psalms 146-150. David was not a fully consistent man, but he deeply loved the Lord and desired to glorify Him.

The songs of Asaph - instructions for faith. Many of the Psalms of Asaph perform a function that increasingly few worship songs have in our own day: they instruct. First, they call to mind historical things that God accomplished (Psalm 81:4-7; Psalm 83:9-11 and especially Psalm 78). Second, they inform us about the nature of God, in His personhood, titles, and character (Psalm 50). And third, by putting himself in the place of a struggling worshipper, Asaph has created Psalm 73 which is meant to help those struggling with doubt in God's goodness to move forward (Psalm 73).

A ray of light in a dark place - Psalm 73. You wouldn't know this from reading chronologically, but Psalm 73 actually starts off the third section of the book of Psalms -the darkest of all the sections- which is meant to cope with the realities of the Jewish exile (historical context) and the death of King David in Psalms 71-72 (literary context). But whereas Psalm 3 in David's voice was an unexpectedly somber beginning to David's contributions, Psalm 73 is an unexpectedly uplifting answer to David's demise: "Truly God is good to Israel...Whom have I in heaven but You? And on earth, there is nothing that I desire besides You. My heart and my flesh might fail, but You are the strength of my heart and my portion forever... for me it is good to be near to God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works" (Psalm 73:1, 25-26, 28).

DO | HOW DO WE RESPOND?

How can we respond in our worship, attitude, and actions? IN OUR WORSHIP we can take the Psalms that we will be reading over the next couple of weeks and pray alongside them, asking how they might point us to Christ as the deepest answer to our longings and the source of our highest joy.

PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US TO GOD?

Whether in response to anything pointed out here, or to something else in your Bible reading time, take a few moments before you close up your Bible to pray in response to God. If you need a format for prayer, both the ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication), CALL (Confess, Ask, Love, Listen), and PRAY (Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield) methods are helpful ways to stay consistent.

-Sean

Day #120 | "Treasuring the Psalms"

LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?

Read 1 Kings 2:1-12, 1 Chronicles 29:26-30, and Psalms 1-2

THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

1. The Gateway to the Psalms: Take Refuge in the Righteous Son (Psalms 1-2). In studies of the book of Psalms, the opening two psalms have long been recognized as setting the theme(s) for the whole book, with the entire collection of the Psalms making up one unified whole. In that way of thinking, Psalm 1 introduces us to the righteous figure, starting with "Blessed is the one [i.e. the righteous figure] who... delights in the law of the LORD" (Psalm 1:1-2), and closing the next Psalm by ending off with "Blessed are all who take refuge in the Son" (Psalm 2:12). The two occurrences of "blessed" at the beginning of Psalm 1 and the end of Psalm 2 in that case act as a kind of "book end" showing the unified message of everything in between. In context, then, the next Psalm (Psalm 3) is written by David and starts off on a down note, to show us that David is not this figure and that we should look for one who is greater than David.

2. Blessed is the man who delights in the law of the Lord (Psalm 1). God's Word is good, and it is the one true guide for all those whose eyes are set on eternal things. It is a testimony to God's work and intention for all mankind. It is called God's "law" here (or Torah, which has a wider meaning), but our other reading in 1 Kings 2 calls it by many other names: God's statutes, commandments, rules, and testimonies (2 Kings 2:3). Those who drink deeply from the wisdom of God's Word are firmly planted on the shores of life, nourished and equipped for life.

3. Blessed are all those who take refuge in God's Son (Psalm 2). This Psalm tells us a story of two kingdoms: the kingdoms of the earth, and the kingdom of God and his Messiah (the word for "anointed" in Psalm 2:2). This anointed figure is variously called God's Messiah/Anointed (Psalms 2:2), the king (Psalm 2:6). God's begotten Son (Psalm 2:7, 12), and the refuge who brings blessing (Psalm 2:12). While we might expect that this would be David or Solomon, the stories of both men show us that we should expect someone else--someone who is now known to us as Jesus of Nazareth, who truly is the begotten Son of God, who is descended from David, and who will rule from David's throne over the nations--Blessed are all who take refuge in Him (Psalm 2:12).

4. The death of David, and the need for a better David (1 Kings 2, 1 Chronicles 29:26-30). The historical reading accomplishes here what Psalm 3 accomplishes in the Book of Psalms: it shows us that we should wait for another. David died. And in dying, he sought vengeance with those who had made peace with him. Later on, Jesus, the descendant of David, would make peace with those who were his enemies, and call near those who had condemned him to death. Jesus is the true and better David, the better Solomon, the better king. He is the truly righteous one who fulfilled God's law and walked in it completely, and he is the true begotten Son of God who will give us rest.

Note: the book pictured above is Treasuring the Psalms by Ian Vallaincourt. If you haven't bought the book yet, I would encourage you to do so!

DO | HOW DO WE RESPOND?

How can we respond in our worship, attitude, and actions? IN OUR WORSHIP we can look to Jesus rather than to impressive leaders who seem to have all the answers. Just like David, even the best leaders will let us down. Only Jesus can live up to the standards required to truly bring peace to his people and bring rest to the weary.

PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US TO GOD?

Whether in response to anything pointed out here, or to something else in your Bible reading time, take a few moments before you close up your Bible to pray in response to God. If you need a format for prayer, both the ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication), CALL (Confess, Ask, Love, Listen), and PRAY (Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield) methods are helpful ways to stay consistent.

-Sean

Day #119 | "How to Build a Great Team"

LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?

Read 2 Samuel 23 and 1 Chronicles 11

THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Having a strong supporting team. 1 Chronicles 11:10 describes how David's chief mighty men "gave him strong support in his kingdom, together with all Israel, to make him king." The list of men in this passage and in 2 Samuel 23 goes on to describe men who had joined themselves to David throughout his career, from his time in the territory of the Philistines all the way to the end of his reign. As great as David was, he needed supporters to accomplish goals for Israel.

Recognizing good talent from unusual backgrounds. Among David's chief mighty men, we also see a good group of non-Israelites. Zelek the Ammonite (2 Samuel 23:37; 1 Chronicles 11:39), Uriah the Hittite (2 Samuel 23:39, 1 Chronicles 11:41) and Ithmah the Moabite (1 Chronicles 11:46) are at least some of the Gentile officers who David brought into his army and elevated. By finding the best and bringing them onto his team, David secured his position, brought Israel out from under the Philistines, unified Israel, prepared for great building projects which his son Solomon would enact, won great victories, established a culture of worship in the kingdom, and died having reached old age and having left behind something for others.

Celebrating their accomplishments. These lists of David's men exist because David celebrated their accomplishments and told their stories. He celebrated them. Unlike Saul who grew jealous when David accomplished mighty feats, David elevated those who did great work in his service.

The Lord worked through them. There are multiple spots throughout this reading where some mighty action of one of the men is described, and then we are told that God enabled the man to accomplish the feat. Shammah the Hararite took a brave stand on his own against a force of Philistines, we are told, "and the LORD worked a great victory" (2 Samuel 23:11-12).  Dodo son of Ahohi slew the Philistines so thoroughly that he became more worn out by continuing to swing his sword than by the resistance of the opposing army, and the narrative adds, "And the LORD brought about a great victory that day" (2 Samuel 23:9-10).

DO | HOW DO WE RESPOND?

How can we respond in our worship, attitude, and actions? IN OUR ACTIONS we should endeavor to build up and work together with teams, to recognize and encourage the talents of others, and to work together to accomplish big goals.

PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US TO GOD?

Whether in response to anything pointed out here, or to something else in your Bible reading time, take a few moments before you close up your Bible to pray in response to God. If you need a format for prayer, both the ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication), CALL (Confess, Ask, Love, Listen), and PRAY (Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield) methods are helpful ways to stay consistent.

-Sean

Day #117-118 | "Organizing the Mission, Delegating the Details"

LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?

Read 1 Chronicles 24-29

THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Everything needs organization. These days, we often expect that most important problems should be fairly simple, straightforward, and uncomplicated to solve: requiring initiative and hard work, perhaps, but not much complicated thought. In some ways that can be right--as people we have a tendency to complicate the simple and obfuscate the obvious. But the more "parts" that a problem has (the number of people involved, the number of interest groups affected, the number of dollars required, the number of levels of governance that need to be consulted for approval, the number of options that require sorting), the more systems are required to address the issue. We see those factors at work in this chapter. It really doesn't take much to worship God, other than a man (or woman) walking up to the nearest clearing at sunrise to sing or pray or read, and spend time in God's presence. But when hundreds of thousands, or millions, of people come to worship God together, then David has to get systems together to mind the building, watch the gates, take shifts to offer sacrifices in the prescribed way, write songs and lead worship teams, manage the treasury, manage teaching and make decisions in cases of personal waywardness, work with smaller groups, provide counseling, do security work, and greet people at the gates. As we see in this chapter, it takes a lot of people working together to make that happen, and clear systems to organize them.

There needs to be a leader. First, we see that all of this complicated work requires someone to be the main "on the ground" leader. David likely consulted heavily with his advisors, and I doubt that he made any significant decisions on this front without first consulting "Zadok of the sons of Eleazar and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar" (1 Chronicles 24:3) or "the chiefs of the service" (1 Chronicles 25:1). But David was the initiator, the one who provided the central vision. I once worked for a senior pastor who told me about the danger of having multiple top decision makers--he said that "the problem with having two visions is that the result is a die-vision [a pun on 'division,' which I found out later actually literally means 'two visions,']." What happens when a central decision maker isn't in place? Tie ten people together with a rope around their waists and tell them to all head in different directions, and you'll get a visual representation of the result: nothing bad happens, but they don't really get anywhere either (or at least not far), and most of them appear to be pretty worn out by the end, and eventually they give up--because you can either get nowhere and be tired out trying to pull in the direction you want to head towards, or you can accept that nothing is going to change and at least try to enjoy the spot you're tied up together in for what it is.

There needs to be accountability. It doesn't really look like David had much accountability, but that's not (entirely) true. I am glad that leaders have more accountability today than back then. But David did also have some accountability: if a king truly proved to be terrible, mismanaging the country and abusing his power, and violating the worship of God, it was not unknown for the people to rebel and even kill the leader. It already almost happened to David a couple of times, while he was with the Philistines (when his men's camp was raided), during the rebellion of Absalom, and during the civil war of Israel at Sheba's instigation in 2 kings 20. When there were multiple legitimate heirs to the throne, a group could even rally around one heir or the other if they wanted a king out of the way but still wanted to appear loyal to the throne. These days we thankfully don't kill our leaders--but if there is significant mismanagement or ethical breaches, we can vote to terminate them, we can censure them for an action, we can enact forced paid leave with a prescribed process for reinstatement, we can refuse to give raises, we can withhold giving, or we can announce personal withdrawal from their leadership. All of these are significant actions, but they show that no leader, even one with a lot of decision-making power, is ever truly without accountability--and a good leader should welcome this.

There needs to be meaningful delegation with decision-making lattitude. Leaders don't get anywhere by trying to manage every decision in a growing organization. David models this by assigning multiple sub-leaders who have charge over different areas throughout these chapters. Leaders over large circles need to give those who lead smaller circles the ability to manage things within their personal area of responsibility: They need to draw out the box of expectations within which lower level leaders need to operate, but then they need to let those leaders draw inside the lines with the technique and colors that fit them best. If you try to give someone responsibility without the required authority, you are setting up someone to fail, so that they end up owning the result of others' decisions without being able to do anything to change it. On the other hand, if you give authority without responsibility, you end up creating demanding, abusive, and irresponsible leadership--setting others up to fail and washing their hands when the result is not ideal, because they are not the ones responsible for the result. 

Here's an illustration on what authority without responsibility looks like: As a volunteer on a preaching team for a church that had no pastor, I once walked into a service with no one leading worship. There was also no one working the media booth. No one was assigned to do announcements. I actually hadn't been scheduled to preach either, except that I had called a few days earlier to ask if anyone was scheduled for the next few weeks, and when they found out there wasn't anyone for the upcoming Sunday, they asked me to come last minute. Thinking quickly as the scheduled time for the service was about to come up, I pulled in some people as they came through the door, and asked one girl if she could play some songs she knew on the keyboard and sing, and she agreed. I asked another guy who knew how to work the soundboard, and he agreed. I asked another person to read announcements, and they did. And I preached--and it worked. We started the service 15 minutes late and there were a couple of rough spots, but we pulled it off and had a great morning. Then I pulled the Elders into a room after the service and confronted them on allowing this to happen--without a pastor, that team were the pastors of the church. They were responsible to make sure things were going to happen. But they stood around, blamed the deacon of worship who was on vacation, blamed volunteers for not checking their schedules, blamed Millennials for not being dedicated to their responsibilities, all while admitting that they hadn't done any work that week to make sure things were on track. I explained to them that as Elders, they were the pastors of the church, and that if they hired a pastor and he let that happen, he would be fired. They continued to make excuses, and the church ended up having another Sunday like that four weeks later where I wasn't there to pull it together. When I came back two weeks after that, there were only 11 people in the service--down from a high of 150. The church was finally able to hire an interim pastor, and that church has thankfully seen an increase up to about 50-60 over the last three years. But that church nearly died because the people who had responsibility didn't have authority, and the people who had authority had no responsibility.

DO | HOW DO WE RESPOND?

How can we respond in our worship, attitude, and actions? IN OUR ATTITUDES AND ACTIONS we should be pro-organization people who delegate decision-making authority, but also respect the need for a common vision and a common direction. David illustrates that need over these readings. As we learn from these chapters, we should be willing to learn about systems, take best practices from others, equip leaders, set big goals and aim towards them. What would it look like for our neighbourhood, city, province, and country to hear the Gospel and be brought into meaningful community with God's people? What would it take to reach them with a missionary mindset? How would that goal be accomplished? Who would we partner with? What resources would we need? What systems would need to be in place? All of that requires organization.

PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US TO GOD?

Whether in response to anything pointed out here, or to something else in your Bible reading time, take a few moments before you close up your Bible to pray in response to God. If you need a format for prayer, both the ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication), CALL (Confess, Ask, Love, Listen), and PRAY (Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield) methods are helpful ways to stay consistent.

-Sean