Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How Much Control Do We Have? | The Life of Solomon | 1 Kings 7

Episode Date: June 23, 2021

Does uncertainty make you uncomfortable? Anxious? It does a lot of people. So how much control do we have, and how much do we need to rely on God? Get answers from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Kings+7&version=NIV (1 Kings 7) as Tanya Wilmeth continues our series on The Life of Solomon.  Interested in more content like this? Check out https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/podcasts/pride-before-the-fall-1-peter-57/ (How to Give Anxiety to God) and https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/podcasts/how-to-handle-uncertainty-about-the-future/ (How to Handle Uncertainty About the Future). Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit ourhttps://www.thecrossingchurch.com/ ( website) and follow us onhttps://www.facebook.com/TenMinuteBibleTalks ( Facebook),https://www.instagram.com/thecrossingcomo/ ( Instagram), andhttps://twitter.com/tmbtpodcast ( Twitter) @TheCrossingCOMO and @TenMinuteBibleTalks.  Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now.

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. And I'm Patrick Miller. I hope that you enjoyed our series on favorite verses. One of our favorite speakers in that series was Tanya Wilmuth. In fact, we liked her talk so much that we've invited her to come on and co-host with us at 10-minute Bible Talks. So if you start hearing a new voice, which you will hear today, that is Tanya. Just a quick reminder of who she is.

Tanya is a mom, a former English teacher, and she's also a Bible teacher. And I think that you are really going to enjoy learning from her. She's got a different style and amazing insights that I don't think Keith or I could bring to the table. So enjoy listening to her today and from that point forward. Some friends were recently recounting the SNL episode that starred Elon Musk. We were trying to understand why the cast was hesitant to work with him. and though we got the reason wrong, we wondered if it had something to do with the Tesla

he put into space in 2018. That led us down a little rabbit trail, and we found that the Tesla holding a dummy named Starman just finished its second orbit in 2021. The calculations for Starman and his Tesla are predicted to last at approximately 20 million years. But Musk speculates the car could drift in space for up to a billion years.

Of course, we have no idea what will truly happen, nor will any of us be alive when it does, but it seems a little odd that we can put something into space that has that kind of long-lasting effect. It actually causes us to think about the impact we do have on God's big universe,

juxtapose with the inability we actually have to control anything about it. We are in the middle of our series on King, Solomon. And in chapter 7, we read about the house that Solomon built. He had just finished a massive seven-year building project for the Lord's Temple. And now in chapter 7, he spends 13 years building his own house. As it's described, this house wasn't just his personal residence, but a whole complex of buildings, where the administration of his kingdom would be carried out. Maybe our modern minds can picture it like Capitol Hill with the White House and the Capitol building, or St. Peter's

Basilica meets Buckingham Palace. I'm not sure, but it must have been grand. The house had three sections, something called the Forest of Lebanon and the Hall of Pillars and the Hall of Judgment. In verse 7, it says, and he, meaning Solomon, made the Hall of the Throne, where he was to pronounce judgment. After 13 years and the best builders in the nation, this palace must have been a site to behold. In modern America, the domes and architecture of our own government buildings will they leave us a bit in awe of the work that's been done there for our nation? The throne is described later on in chapter 10 in more detail. It says the like of it was never made in any kingdom. This was the throne of God's king and the place. Where is the place? Where is

Solomon was to pronounce judgment. Solomon did some amazing work from his throne room. And while it was beautiful and symbolic and probably a great source of pride for the people in the nation, this palace also represented

a limited reign of Solomon. He could only live and rule from one place at one time. He could only pronounce judgment for those things of which he was made aware. Or even even those that he had time to address. He could sit on the throne, but he still had to sleep.

He was sovereign over a kingdom, but he was limited in his sovereignty, and he certainly wasn't perfect. Daniel 113 describes a better king who will rise to power and rule with great authority to accomplish everything he sets out to do. Solomon's throne room was a shadow of the forever reign of Jesus. So those Israeli pastor byes, well, they would have been in awe of these magnificent building projects. But no doubt, they were also fully aware of their own place as subjects in this grand kingdom. And so are we.

We should fill both in awe of God and so small in the vastness of His kingdom, not small in a way that leaves us insecure, but small in a way that fills us with the security of trusting in terms. God to be the one on the throne. When we were on vacation this year, we had a girl staying with our dog, Max. I really wasn't giving a thought to how things were going until our kids would say, oh, looks like they're on the trail, or now they're back at the house. They knew this from checking out all their friends' whereabouts on the snap map. The whole thing is kind of creepy. It's this idea of knowing where everyone is at all times. It's a relatively new concept, and it makes me

me feel a little itchy and uncomfortable. But then I have to think about how I do the same thing to my own family. An app has become the replacement for our plans and communication. And maybe on a larger level, an app has become the replacement for me trusting the Lord. Does an app keep my kids safe, or does it just put me on the throne? I'm not trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. But the point here is that technology has increased our ability to make us think we're really in control. We can take in information no matter where we are, and this makes us feel like we're on the throne. Eric and I have four kids, so while it's impossible to be at four places at once, we do our best to make ourselves and our kids think we can.

I can text him updates and send him videos from a soccer game so he feels like he's there, and he can take screenshots at the meeting so I don't miss that on the info. phone. The problem is we're both missing out on something happening right in front of us. We're not like God. We can't be everywhere all the time. We have limits. Whether we accept them or not. Are we becoming codependent consumers of what we perceive to be limitless knowledge and inclusion? Are we using the good things God gives us through technology to be many gods? Are we using these tools effectively for his kingdom? Or are we sometimes smothering out a felt need to rely on and trust God? Solomon had access to great technology and amazing tools to build a beautiful palace.

He had God's will and provision to judge with wisdom and grant security to a nation. But even Solomon was limited to a room, a throne, a time, and a place. and ultimately his own willingness and desire to submit to a greater authority. The problem with us feeling in control is it only makes us want more of it. And it's all built on a false foundation. Only God is ultimately in control of the universe from now until that Tesla finishes its orbit. And God is the only one we want to have that kind of control. God's presence, unlimited by time and space, gives us the security to abandon our obsessions.

In Deuteronomy 318, we read, It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. It may sound corny, but if your Snapchat map tells you everyone is at a party when you're not, you can know the Lord is still with you. While your Facebook likes tell you that right this second people are thinking about your photo,

you can know that God is thinking on you all the time and he likes what he sees. All of God is fully present and fully for you all the time. It is better to trust that our limits of time and space and ability keep us tethered to a good God. that supersedes all limits. And when we trust in him to be fully present everywhere, we can enjoy being where we are and who we are in him. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content,

please subscribe and give us a rating. That helps other people find this podcast more easily. Also, ask yourself, who could you share this podcast with? Texting an episode to a friend or a family member is a great way to help them grow spiritually. If you want to go deeper, check out our show notes for book recommendations.