Pray:
Lord, help me wait for You, trust and obey You. Let me see Your destiny unfold in my life.
Read:
1 Kings 1:28-53
Reflect:
What promise are you waiting for God to fulfill?
This story is all about not cutting corners, but doing things right. Adonijah tried to cut corners and get himself made king without being anointed (ch. 1). Solomon's coronation, on the other hand, shows he has done things right.
Solomon rides his father's mule to the anointing (38) as a sign of King David's favor. Nathan the prophet, so long a voice for God in the kingdom, is there. Zadok the priest performs the sacred anointing with the oil from the Tabernacle, an act that symbolizes the Lord's own anointing of Solomon. Solomon is David's true successor, the man of God's choosing (48). Not a single corner has been cut.
In keeping with all that, Solomon acts not with vengeance but with mercy towards his brother Adonijah (49-53).
Yet, this is the last time we will hear about Nathan the prophet, or any prophet, serving at Solomon's court. While God will bless Solomon in many ways, God's presence will not be as obvious as in his father David's time. It's a hint of worse to come.
Apply:
Here, we see prophet, priest and king. Consider how Jesus speaks God's truth, intercedes for us and rules over us.
Pray:
Lord, thank You that You did all things well. You did not cut corners but paid the cost and fulfilled all the Father's will.
