Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Has Your Loyalty? | Historical Books | 1 Kings 1:1-27

Episode Date: July 22, 2025

Are kings enough? What does loyalty to King Jesus look like? What are you loyal to now? In today's episode, Tanya shares how 1 Kings 1:1-27 encourages us to give our time, attention, and obedience to Jesus. If you're listening on Spotify, tell us about yourself and where you're listening from! Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. 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. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that 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 our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 1 Kings 1:1-27

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 Tanya Wilmeth. Well, today is exciting because we're starting a new book on the podcast. We're starting the book of First Kings and really Second Kings, because they were probably originally one book and got divided up whenever they were put into scrolls. But anyway, exciting day because we're starting First Kings. And when First Kings opens, David is still on the throne. But his glory days are long gone.

David is cold. He's weak. He's passive. He doesn't look or sound like a king. Now, even though God had made it clear through the prophet Nathan that Solomon was to be the next king, there was another son, Adonijah, who was making his move for the throne. And for some reason, David isn't doing anything to stop him. So scripture paints the scene with kind of this unsettling silence. David is frail and quiet, and this rebellion is starting to take root right under his nose. But then Beth Sheba steps in, and she reminds David of his promise and she calls him to action. And he finally does, he named Solomon is king.

Okay, well, why am I telling you all this? Well, because as David prepares to die, he gives Solomon one final charge to live like the king of king that God called him to be, to follow the book of the law, to lead with loyalty to the Lord. That's what the king was always meant to do. But this whole book is going to raise a deeper question and bring on deeper tension. And here's what threads through the entire books of first and second kings. Will the king be enough? Will he lead with loyalty? Can he save the people? Now, before we go further,

it helps to kind of see the shape of these books and the shape of the story. So as I said, originally first and second kings were one continuous book, but they were likely divided simply because of the scrolls. Now, together, there's a four-part narrative that they form. First, there's the rise of Solomon. He's the son I was just telling you about. And that's First Kings chapters 1 through 11. Then there's the decline of the kings, and this is 1st Kings 12 through 16. Then we have the era of the prophets, Elijah and Elisha, in 1st King 17, all the way through 2nd Kings 12, and then finally the further decline of the kings in 2nd Kings, chapters 13 to 25. So the pattern is pretty consistent throughout the kings fall short.

Now Solomon starts as a king with wisdom and purpose. but he compromises his loyalty. And then Rehoboam rules with pride, and he splits the kingdom. And then the kings that follow, well, some are evil from the start, some begin well, but finish and failure. Then you have the prophets. Elijah, they speak the truth, they perform miracles, they confront the kings, but even they can't stop the spiritual and political collapse. So by the time Second Kings ends, the nation is crumbled, the people are in exile,

the temple is destroyed and the throne, well, it's empty. Now, what does all of this show us about Jesus? That's the question we can't miss, because this isn't just a book of history. This is a search for Jesus. Who is the true king? It reveals the deep need for a leader who doesn't fail and a voice that doesn't waver and a kingdom that doesn't collapse. Isn't that what we all hope for? So here's what king shows us clearly. Even Israel's greatest human kings couldn't hold it together. Even the most faithful prophets couldn't change the people's hearts. And even the most determined people couldn't save themselves. It's going to take someone greater. And that someone is Jesus. Jesus is the king the whole story is waiting for. Jesus is the king that will obey

every command and keep every covenant. Jesus will be the king that rules not with dominance, but with sacrifice. Jesus will be the king that lays out his life for his people and rises again to reign forever. And now Jesus is our king. He's the king we want our kids to follow, and he's the only one worthy of our loyalty. So let's ask, what does loyalty to the true king look like, not just in history, not just in this story, or not just in theory, but in our lives today. Well, first of all, loyalty means we give the true king our time and our attention. Did you know that in 2025, the average human attention span is about eight seconds, which is one second shorter than a goldfish? But attention is a form of loyalty. What we give our focus to,

we give our hearts to. Colossians 316 says, let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. Not occasionally, not just casually, but richly, like taking root and making a difference. You cannot be loyal to a king that you rarely listen to, engage with, talk to, cry out to. You cannot grow close to someone that you never spend time with. Jesus invites us to tune in and give him our loyal attention. He invites us to sit with his word, and to speak with him in prayer and to hear his voice over and over. Another way we show loyalty to our king is to give him our lesser loves. When we draw near to Jesus, something happens.

His light and his glory exposes what we've been holding on to that is less than him. Ephesians 5 says it like this. Everything exposed by the light becomes visible. Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. See, Jesus doesn't just rescue us. he actually reveals to us what is wrong. He reveals where we've been trusting in our own strength. He reveals where comfort or control have taken the throne in our hearts. And when that happens, we can surrender and we can let him just take those lesser loves and pry them out of our hands

and our hearts. And we can say to him, you are better. That's what repentance sounds like. And it's one of the deepest forms of loyalty. Finally, we can give the true king our obedience. Jesus said in John 1415, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. Obedience is where loyalty moves from internal to visible, and it's not always easy. It looks like forgiving even when you feel hurt. It looks like telling the truth even when it's costly. It looks like generosity that stretches and makes you do something you don't really want to do. It looks like faithfulness that is constant or steady, even when no one's watching.

obedience isn't about outward performance, but it's about loyalty. It's our way of saying, I trust you more than I trust what I want. I want your way more than mine. So as we move through First and Second Kings, we're going to watch people face questions that still matter. Who will they serve? Will they stay faithful? Will they turn back to God when they drift? And who will be their true king? These are the same questions that we face. Who are what, is getting your loyalty right now? When we talk about that eight-second attention span, where is that going? What's competing for your attention, and how do you make it a little bit stronger,

a little bit better towards the things that matter? Where is obedience being asked of you in a way that is costly, that you know you should follow? The kings of Israel in these books, they're going to rise and fall. The prophets are going to speak God's truth, but the people are not going to listen. but Jesus remains. He doesn't lose control, he doesn't compromise, he doesn't grow weak, he is the faithful king, he is the one who reaches for us when we don't reach out for him.

And he is the one that calls us to follow. So I think as we go through these books of first and second kings, we should be thinking about things like not settling for divided hearts, not giving our hearts to things that are less than the true king. And that includes our time, our tension, and our obedience. because Jesus is the king that will not fail us and he is worth every ounce of our loyalty.