Feb 7: 1 Kings 10:1-10
Key Verse: 1 Kings 10:10
And she gave the king 120 talents of gold, large quantities of spices, and precious stones. Never again were so many spices brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
Devotion:
I have never really looked at this interaction between the Queen of Sheba and Solomon too closely before… but something struck me when I was reading it today: The Queen was from a very different background to Solomon and clearly ruled in a very different manner to Solomon. What she saw of Solomon and Israel was a bit too much for her to fully understand; the only thing she could come up with in the end was to leave Solomon with such an abundance of spices and precious stones that Israel has never seen the like of again!
Once again, Solomon did not ask for the riches and praise. His request from God was for wisdom to rule the people and that wisdom is what he shared with the Queen. Whatever the Queen asked of Solomon, he was able to answer the questions and shed wisdom over all the queries.
This got me thinking about us and God’s ways. We have ways of thinking and ways of behaving which somewhat dictate the habits we get into and the lifestyles we live. When something new and incredible is introduced to us we have a hard time trying to get our heads round it. If we ask for wisdom in the same way as Solomon did, we will get a better understanding of God’s ways!
We can receive all of this wisdom and understanding; in return we can give what we have in our lives. We may have riches which are measured in terms of earthly riches: these can be used in church to make the gospel more accessible to others – give what you can!
Points to Ponder:
Do you struggle to measure up to God?
Why not just give what you can?