There was always provision for a king from among the people. God's sovereignty had provided for the event
that He knew would come, a day when they wanted to choose a king to be like the
nations around them, when He would, in essence be rejected as king. He provided for one who would rule in His
stead but with certain caveats. The king
must be an Israelite and not a foreigner.
The king must not acquire many horses and particularly not horses from
Egypt. The horse was for war and Egypt
had always been a temptation and a snare to His people, beginning with Abraham
going there in time of famine and continuing through the 400+ years of their
sojourn there from the time of Joseph.
The king was also not to acquire many wives because his heart would be
led away from the Lord. He was also not
to have much silver or gold for the same reason. Finally, the king was to have a book of the
Law from which he, himself, was to study in order that he might rule according
to the word of the Lord. Solomon
acquired horses, wives and wealth and in the process lost his way. There were times in history when the word of
God was essentially lost. They had been
given both direction and warning and ignored both.
When we pray do we trust that God is righteous and will give
justice? Have we prayed so long over
something that we have lost heart? Has
that caused us to doubt God's goodness or His greatness? Sometimes we labor in prayer and never see
God act, whether praying for people to come to know Him or over situations in
our lives that need His touch to bring relief.
Does that mean God doesn't care or that justice is simply delayed? Job knew that ultimately all that had
happened to him to bring him down and cause the loss of all earthly comfort
would be reconciled and justice would be done whether in this life or the
next. Jesus calls us to persevere in
faith no matter how long justice is delayed in such belief as Job had in a
righteous God.
Paul refers back to the manna in the last verse of this
reading. God provided exactly enough for
all in the wilderness so long as they all labored to collect it. All gathered or they didn't eat, but all who
gathered had enough. He uses the example
of the churches of Macedonia and their generosity in spite of their poverty in
providing for the relief of those poorer than themselves as a way of spurring
the Corinthian church(es) to give from their present abundance (apparently the
church, or at least a portion of it was quite well off, see 1 Cor
11.18-22). We are to care for one
another and to provide for those in need wherever they may be in order that we
might experience the fellowship of believers and prove our love for brothers
and sisters that we might not even know.
We are one and we have the same King and Lord. In doing so, we are instruments of His
righteousness and justice. Where might
you be a part of God's answer to someone's prayer today?
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