Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How to Deal with Adversity and Opposition | The Life of Solomon | 1 Kings 2

Episode Date: June 14, 2021

Does it ever feel like everything is working against you? Like you can’t catch a break? Find encouragement and advice on how to deal with adversity from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Kings%202&version=NIV (1 Kings 2) as https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/staff/keith-simon/ (Pastor Keith Simon) continues our series on The Life of Solomon.  Interested in more content like this? Check out https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/podcasts/how-gods-promises-are-revealed-david-in-22-2-samuel-7/ (How God’s Promises Are Revealed), https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/podcasts/what-it-means-to-pledge-allegiance-to-king-jesus-a-guest-interview-with-matthew-bates/ (I Pledge Allegiance to King Jesus), and https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/podcasts/how-to-repent-and-believe-in-jesus-mark-mark-1-15/ (How to Repent and Believe in Jesus).  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 Tim Minna Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. My name is Patrick Miller. And I'm Keith Simon. Anyone who says the Bible is boring simply hasn't read it. It's just that easy. Are the names in the Bible hard to pronounce? Yes. Is the geography of the Bible tough to keep track of?

Definitely. Is the culture of the Bible foreign to us and therefore at times confusing? Sure. But is the Bible boring? No way. In 1st Kings chapter 2, we see power, lust, and greed. And along the way, a few people are killed. No Netflix drama has more packed into an episode. We're looking at the life of Solomon found in the book, First Kings. First Kings is an Old Testament book, and in the first chapter, the issue was succession. King David had died. Who would be the next king? In chapter, Chapter 2, the issue is security. Will the kingdom survive? The last verse of the second chapter, it's verse 46, it answers that question. Here's what it says. The kingdom was now established in Solomon's hands. So yes, the kingdom survived. But it wasn't easy. There were a lot of threats that had to be dealt with before we got to the good outcome. Before we dive into those threats found in

1st Kings 2, I just want to make sure that we are keeping track of the big picture. In 2 Samuel 7, God told King David that one of his descendants would sit on his throne and that He, God, would establish David's kingdom forever. And now God is keeping that promise by establishing Solomon as the next king. God always keeps his promises. He is a promise keeping God. You and I, we need to remember that. In fact, we need to preach that truth to ourselves.

We need to say to ourselves, keep in mind that God has never broken one promise. Self, remember that God has never failed you. He's never let you down. Self, God has never done you wrong. He's never left you or abandoned you, and he never will. Joshua 2145 says, Not one of all the Lord's good promises to Israel failed. Every one was fulfilled.

you need to stop and put your name in there in place of Israel because what was true of Israel that God had kept all his promises to them is also true of you and me. He has kept all his promises to us. See, not one of all the Lord's good promises to you have failed. Not one has failed. Every single one was fulfilled. Back to First Kings 2, where we find enemies to God's kingdom. Some enemies are people and some of the enemies are dark spiritual forces, but all God's enemies oppose God's plan, God's king, and God's kingdom. In this chapter, Solomon puts three men to death and banishes another one. Is this just power politics as our world plays? I don't think so. Remember that Solomon was God's king. He's the rightful king. He was appointed by King David,

all those who oppose King Solomon are opposing God. Because of Solomon's unique role to oppose Solomon is to oppose God. Now, a little side note, that's not true of us. We are not God's king in the line of David like Solomon was. So you can't tell your spouse or your kids or your boss that to disagree with you is to disagree with God. But the enemies that Solomon faced have a lot in common with the enemies we face in our Christian life. Solomon's first enemy he had to deal with is a guy we've met before, Adonijah. Adonijah was Solomon's older brother who tried to assume the throne himself before David had even died.

Solomon is anointed king, but Adonijah doesn't let it go. After Solomon had been anointed king, Adonijah asked if he could marry Abyshash, the last woman to be with King David before his death. Abishag was the human hot water bottle. You might remember we talked about her in chapter one. She's the one who had won the Miss Israel contest, so she was very beautiful. And I'm sure that some of Adonijah's attraction to her was sexual desire. But there was more to it than just that.

You see, if he could marry a woman who was close to David, Adonijah could try to claim that he was the king. So this is nothing but a naked power grab. Maybe you're someone who has given your allegiance to King Jesus. but still tries to ascend the throne in your own life. We all know the struggle to submit to Jesus daily. We can't be the king of our life at the same time that Jesus is. There are no thrones with two seats on them.

Every throne in human history had only one seat. Kings don't share their thrones with their subject. And make no mistake, Jesus is king and we are his subjects. Jesus says in Matthew 6, no one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you'll be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. You cannot serve both God and self. You could not serve both God and anything or anyone else.

So Adonijah knew he was supposed to submit to the new king, but he refused. He faced the consequences and was killed. There's a high priest named Abithar. who, along with Adonisha, had opposed God's anointed king, Solomon. But Solomon didn't put Abithar, the priest, to death. Instead, he banished him to his home outside of Jerusalem. Interestingly, Abithar was later restored to his position. And that reminds us that no matter what we've done, no matter what sin we've committed,

we can always repent. We can always turn around and walk back to Jesus. we're not stuck in our sin. We don't have to let our sin tell the whole story about our life. God always has open arms welcoming in those who turn from their sin and turn to him. So when you see sin in your life, take it to Jesus. Another guy who things didn't go well for was a general named Joab. Joab was a murderer who David had warned Solomon about.

And Solomon sent one of his men to kill Joab. So these men were all unwilling to submit to the king because they wanted power. So these men, Adinijah, Solomon's older brother, Abbotar, the high priest, and Joab the general. Well, they were all unwilling to submit to King Solomon because they wanted power. There's one last guy that Solomon had to deal with in chapter two. His name is Shemay. Shemay is the last enemy of Solomon. He doesn't really want power as much as he wants money.

King David had recommended executing Shemay, but Solomon decided to put him under house arrest instead. As long as Shemay stayed in his house, he would live. Shemay was thankful for the mercy David showed him, but he didn't follow through on his end of the deal. When his servants ran away, Shemay gave chase, and he left his house. He left Jerusalem. This was a financial issue.

Shimei didn't want to lose money, so he did his own thing instead of listening to the king. Each of these men that Solomon had executed refused to get on board with the new king. We face similar temptations. Maybe like Shemay, we want to do with our money what we want to do with our money. Or maybe it's about sex or power like Adonijah, Abyothar, and Joab. Or maybe it's something different. One thing I think God wants us to get from this passage is that there will all always be enemies to God's rule in our life.

But here's the good news. Jesus defeated all of his enemies on the cross. Colossians 2.15 says, And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Jesus is like Solomon in that both defeated their enemies. But Jesus is unlike Solomon,

in that while Solomon killed his enemies, Jesus died for his enemies. Solomon won by killing. Jesus won by dying. Solomon was a great king, but one greater than Solomon is here. His name, King Jesus. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating. That helps others find this podcast more easily.

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