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Chosen no: R-4290 a, from: 1908 Year. |
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Desire And Choose, Then Seek And Attain
--I KINGS 3:4-15.--DECEMBER 6.--
Golden Text:--"The reverence
of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom."--Prov. 9:10.
KING SOLOMON began his reign with a reverent heart, as evinced by his
offering sacrifices at Gibeon. In this he evidenced the faithfulness of our
Golden Text, which prepared his heart for the blessings which he subsequently
received of the Lord. We note the wide difference between his attitude and that
of his two brothers, who had sought the throne of Israel in an ambitious spirit
and in a traitorous manner, as described in preceding lessons. So far as the
record shows Solomon manifested in this matter a proper respect for the Lord
and his Divine appointments. In this he may be considered an illustration of
our Lord Jesus and of the Church, which is his Body; even as Absalom's career
corresponded to the course of Satan and all those who follow his disobediently
ambitious course.
Possessed of reverence for the Lord and acknowledging him before all the
people as the real Ruler of Israel, and by sacrifice confessing him as Israel's
Ruler, the young king was in just the right attitude of heart to receive a
blessing. He slept--he dreamed. Whether the dream was the outworking of his own
devotion of heart and the Lord's response to it or whether the Lord, noticing
his teachable attitude of mind, gave the dream as a lesson respecting Solomon's
proper course, none can say, because the matter is not revealed; but, at all
events, the young king had a most beautiful dream, which, in view of later
developments, can be considered only as a true reflection of Solomon's attitude
of heart.
He dreamed that he was in the presence of the Almighty, who graciously
inquired what were his desires. Solomon's answer was a most humble one. It
intimates that he realized that it was not of any worthiness or merit of his
own that God's favor was thus indicated, that it was merely the continuation of
the Divine mercy which for years had blessed his father, King David,
"according as he walked before thee in truth and in righteousness and in
uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness,
that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day." (I
Kings 3:6.) How beautiful an adornment is humility! The fact that few possess
it should make it all the more estimable to us. It is like salt to our food. It
adds a blessing to every other grace and talent we may possess.
"I AM BUT A LITTLE CHILD"
We have nothing to indicate that Solomon ever became very haughty,
proud, though he certainly would have been a marvelous man had his great wisdom
and honor and wealth not affected in some degree the childlike [R4291 : page 363] simplicity which he expressed to
the Lord in this dream, saying, "O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant
king instead of David my father; and I am but a little child; I know not how to
go out or come in [how to conduct myself in public or in private before the
people]. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen,
a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. Give thy
servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may
discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this thy great
people."--Vs. 7-9.
The simplicity of this prayer is beautiful. In it Solomon recognized his
own littleness and need of assistance and God's greatness and ability to help. He
recognized also that the people were not his, but God's; and that he was not
really the king, but God's servant appointed to judge or rule the people
according to Divine standards. He recognized that good might appear evil and
evil might appear good to his imperfect judgment; and his prayer, therefore,
was for wisdom; not that he might be reputed the wisest man in the world, nor
for any other selfish purpose or ambition, but that as God's servant he might
faithfully and wisely administer the duties of his office, and honor God and
bless his fellow-Israelites. Would that all rulers and judges today might have
a similarly humble opinion of themselves and a similarly broad appreciation of
the duties and the responsibilities of their office, and a similarly child-like
faith in God's ability to guide them, to use them, to bless the work to which
he has appointed them! Would that they could recognize that all people are
God's people, and that they themselves must render an account to God which will
be exacting to the extent of their knowledge and ability.
"THE SPEECH PLEASED
JEHOVAH"
We do not wonder that the record shows that the Lord was pleased with
his choice--because Solomon asked neither long life, nor riches, nor the lives
of his enemies, but something far better--wisdom. Then, just as we might
expect, with our present knowledge of the Lord's bounty and mercy and
generosity, Jehovah declared to Solomon that his request for wisdom was
granted, but that with it he would add riches and honor above those of any
other human being of his day; and he promised also that if Solomon would
continue in this way he would lengthen his days, give him an increase beyond
the limitations of his natural powers.
When Solomon awoke and found that it was but a dream, doubtless there
was a measure of disappointment in connection with it, but it brought before
his mind, clearly and distinctly, just the condition of heart and mind most
pleasing to the Lord. And be it remembered that for a considerable number of
years Solomon maintained his humble attitude of heart and faithfulness to God. He
returned to Jerusalem and there, through the agency of the priest, made various
additional offerings and sacrifices to the Lord, the flesh of the
peace-offerings constituting a feast for his servants, including many of the
royal citizens. Thus was his reign reverently and wisely inaugurated and the
foundation laid for his personal prosperity and that of the nation, which, as
God's representative, he both ruled and served.
LESSONS FROM THIS STORY FOR OUR DAY
The word opportunity signifies "standing at the door." We have
seen how great opportunities stood at Solomon's door and how he embraced them. Similarly
opportunities stood at the door of his two brothers and they embraced them for
sin and treason. Let us note that opportunities for good and for evil come to
all of us at some time and it is for us to decide which we will grasp. But
before the opportunity, comes the desire. If the desires be impure, an evil
opportunity in harmony therewith will be found. If the desires be good, noble,
true, loyal, opportunities in harmony with these will come to us. The thought
to be impressed upon our minds, therefore, is that the desires of our hearts
should be noble in every respect, and that all ignoble desires be studiously
and promptly set aside, to the intent that [R4291 :
page 364] only the good opportunities may come to us. But desire and
opportunity are not enough. Many a man has had both and gotten nothing. When
the good desires have been cultivated and developed and by and by a noble
opportunity stands before us, then comes the responsibility of seizing
it--decision. Probably more people make failure of life at this juncture than
at any other.
Our counsel to the worldly would be along these lines: That first they
should have noble ambitions; that they should resist all others; that they
should be on the lookout for opportunities in harmony with their noblest
sentiments and should seize them with all the energy of their being, when they
come within their reach, and should never let them go. It is worthy of note,
too, that very few are so meanly born or unfavorably environed that they are
utterly devoid of noble principles or incompetent of discernment as between
these and ignoble ones. True, born in sin and shapen in iniquity and surrounded
by others in similar conditions, none can help it if ignoble suggestions come
to his mind. But it is within his power to exercise his will to resist the evil
suggestion and bid it be gone and to entertain only noble, pure, true sentiments.
This is illustrated by the adage which declares that "We cannot help crows
flying over our heads, but we can prevent them from building nests in our
hair."
The difficulty is that where an affinity exists between the evil
suggestions and the fallen nature, the will may not be prompt enough to rid
itself of the intrusion. The battle of the will, therefore, is not merely with
the crow thoughts that desire to nest with us, but additionally the wrong
disposition which desires the crow company. A child's hand was stuck in the
narrow mouth of a vase. He called for aid and the father suggested, "Open
your hand loosely." "I know," replied the child, "that if I
do that, I'll drop my penny." The thought is that to release ourselves
from the power of sin requires such an exercise of the will as would enable us
to drop the cost of our release, "the pleasures of sin for a season."
THE NEED OF CHRIST WITHIN
Our Lord gave a parable respecting a man possessed of an evil spirit who
got rid of it and got his heart swept and garnished--but empty. By and by the
evil spirit took with him seven others more wicked than himself and they
overpowered him and his last end was worse than the first. A valuable lesson
can be drawn from this. It illustrates that under present adverse conditions we
are unable to keep ourselves, and that even if we were relieved from the power
of sin, even if we were justified freely from all the sins that are past, we
would be unable to keep ourselves--the world, the flesh and the Adversary in manifold
forms will surely overpower our good resolutions and desires for purity and
uprightness. What we need is an occupant for our hearts--the Divine One. If
Christ be enthroned in our hearts, if our wills be turned over to him in full
submission, he is able to keep our hearts, to guard our hearts. Respecting such
he says, the Father and myself will come in to them and abide with them. Oh,
the security this implies! Let us not forget that the will is the doorkeeper of
the heart and that the Lord's presence will not remain except as we will to
have it, and that if we admit to our hearts evil thoughts, evil surmisings, the
Lord will not hear us, will not abide with us, but will proportionately vacate
and leave room for more and more of the evil influences to enter into us and to
possess us.
Hence the admonition, "Keep your hearts in the love of God." The
Evil One and entrenched sins will endeavor to remain in our hearts and fight
against our wills. But not so with righteousness and the laws of God. These are
easily offended and easily driven out. Hence with the Psalmist we should pray,
"Oh, Lord! take not thy holy Spirit from me." Remember also the
exhortation of the Apostle, "Grieve not the holy Spirit with which ye are
sealed unto the day of redemption."
If we know these things, happy are we if we act upon them. Happy are we
if we realize the primary necessity for good desires and for the rejection of
evil desires. Happy are we if, when the message of God's grace came to us as an
opportunity of return to his favor, we promptly embraced and received at his
hands justification by faith, through the merit of the precious blood. Happy
are we if being thus swept and garnished and delivered from the power of the
Adversary, we promptly recognized our obligation to the Giver of all blessing
and sought relationship with him. Happy are we if, learning of his willingness
to accept the keys of our hearts, to accept our will, we should give it to him
fully, completely, forever! Happy are we if we maintain this same attitude of
heart-purity and desire for the Lord's will instead of our own, and if more and
more we allow the Spirit of the Lord to fill every nook and corner of our
hearts and to drive out, not only sin, but every worldly ambition, that we may
be fully and wholly possessed by the Spirit of our Lord, the holy Spirit! Happy
are we if we continue to manifest meekness, gentleness, patience,
long-suffering, goodness, brotherly kindness, peace, love, so that anything
which would mar this heavenly bliss or quench this holy flame or offend our
Master or lose us his smile, would be considered as indescribable disaster! Happy
are we if the joys of the Lord thus continue in our hearts and rule our lives
and make us joyful in our pilgrimage towards the heavenly city and its glories!
Happy are we as we find the Spirit of the Lord working out through hands and
feet and tongue and every power to glorify the name [R4292
: page 364] of our Redeemer and to bless his children and as many others as
possible of the groaning creation!
JOINT-HEIRS WITH CHRIST
Dear fellow-members of the Royal Priesthood, in a certain sense we
already have received the anointing of the Great King, which constitutes us in
an embryotic sense the Kings and Priests of the future. We are at the threshold
of a great work. We are to be associates with our Lord in the Kingdom, that we
may be his assistants in conferring Divine blessings upon all the families of
the earth. Our position, therefore, is not so unlike that of Solomon. We, like
him, have turned aside from service for a time that we may offer sacrifices to
the Lord. Each has a sacrifice to bring, his justified self, his will, his
time, his influence, his talents. Now is the time of our dream. Now is the time
when the Lord has appeared to us, revealing himself to the eyes of our
understanding through his Word. He invites us to choose. He wishes us to see of
what spirit we are. Day by day we are making choice, either wisely or unwisely.
And day by day he is taking note of those who make a wise choice, as did
Solomon.
Do we ask for long life by seeking chiefly self-preservation? Do we ask
for riches by giving the best of our time and talent to their accumulation? Or
do we ask for triumphs and trials of an earthly kind over others? If we ask any
of these things or all of them, as some seem to do, we are not choosing the
better [R4292 : page 365] part, and the Lord will
sooner or later advise us that our choice is not pleasing to him. Are we day by
day seeking at the Lord's hand and through his Word an understanding heart,
that we may know his will and obediently follow his instruction? If so, we are
choosing wisely, reverently--"The secret of the Lord is with them that
reverence him, and he will show them his Covenant."
Our desire to know the secret of the Lord should be two-fold: (1) That
we may fill the office and service to which he has so graciously called us; and
(2) that we may be prepared in his providence for the blessing of all with whom
he will bring us in contact, not only in the present life, but also in that
which is to come. It should be our desire, as it was Solomon's, to realize our
own littleness, our own unworthiness of so great an honor; to realize that we
have the Divine favor only because of our relationship to the typical David,
the Beloved, our Redeemer. We are reminded of our Saviour's words, "Except
ye become as little children ye can in no wise enter into the Kingdom of
God." Here again is the thought of simplicity and humility and
teachableness, and not the thought of littleness of stature or immaturity of
judgment. The thought of what we have been called to, in the Lord's providence,
in connection with his Kingdom, should lead us to be very humble in the present
time, to learn all the lessons which our heavenly Father would give to those
who shall be associated with him in his Kingdom, "To the called according
to his purpose."
All of the Lord's people are sheep. All are under the Good Shepherd. But
amongst the sheep he has appointed some to measurably represent him and to
assist and guide the sheep in right paths. These may get the special blessing
from this lesson by applying the suggestions to some extent to their present
relationship to the people of God. None of the elders of the Church of Christ
should ever be heard saying, "My people!" "My flock!"
"My Church!" "My congregation!" Rather in humility he
should be feeling himself as a little child needing the Divine wisdom to guide,
direct, feed the Lord's people, whose interests are so great, so momentous, and
the corresponding need of assistance on the way to the Kingdom.
To all who thus choose, to all whose hearts are firmly fixed
unwaveringly upon these principles and desires, the Lord declares his approval
and assures them that while now granting them the desires of their hearts in respect
to wisdom and knowledge, he will by and by give them still more wisdom and, in
addition, riches and honor and length of days--eternal life. If this matter of
consecration has been thus far but a dream, let us awaken to realities and
permit the good promises of the Lord to awaken in us, not only to will and to
do aright the Father's good pleasure, but also to cultivate in word and deed,
and the thought and intent of our heart, the good purposes of his will. So
doing, we shall shortly enter into the "Joy of our Lord."
W.T. R-4290 a : page 363 – 1908 r.