Saturday June 18

1 Kings 3:16-5:18

By the Power of Greyskull!  Solomon was even wiser than Heman!! (4:31).  I knew the king was amazing but not until this point did I realise quite the extent of his prowess.  From 4:20 through to 5:12 this makes pretty exhilarating reading.  The promises to the patriarchs of numberless descendants, land, prosperity and the submission of foreign kings are all coming to pass.  And with the building of the temple, God’s continual presence will soon complete the set.  This is the kingdom of God arriving on earth - God is coming good on his word!  Let the celebrations begin!  But then, like finding a gherkin in a big-mac we find our heavenly, succulent delight being polluted by something disgustingly, hellishly foul.  Solomon conscripts Israel to slavery.  30,000 people of the promise suddenly find themselves bearing a heavy yoke of forced migration and forced labour.  That was most definitely not part of the plan.  So near, but so far.  Solomon’s reign encapsulates so much of the kingdom, it should raise our eyes to what is possible on earth under the nurturing care of the Lord.  But Solomon’s reign also encapsulates so much of our predicament, abusing and abused by others, sinning and sinned against, a heart of stone that just cannot keep doing good.  Who can save us from these bodies of death?  I think Paul says something about that in Romans ch7...

Acts 12:19b-13:12

There’s two fairly major acts of God right there - striking one man dead and another one blind.  The death of Herod Agrippa by the way is also recorded in the history books - it seems a stomach pain suddenly struck him while the crowd were giving him the big up and he died 5 days later.  I know we believe the bible to be true but it is nice every now and then to see it verified by an independent source.  I think the major thing to take out of this section is that we should expect God to interrupt life.  He can end life (Herod), adversely affect life (Elymas) and re-direct life (Barnabas and Saul).  God is not just a therapeutic object.  He isn’t just some heavenly stress-ball that we spend a bit of time engaging with and come out feeling happier.  He acts in this world and we should expect him to see him acting in our lives.  And his acting won’t just be to meet our own desires or to stop it raining when we are leaving the office.  God’s actions will be to further his purposes and to bring glory to his name and will, most likely cause us at least a bit of inconvenience.  But I guess we are up for that.  I guess that is what worship and Christianity are all about.

Psalm 74:18-23

“Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts”  I know it doesn’t make sense but I think he needs to.  I think that is how Israel is going to get her redemption.