Reigning King

 DEVOTION

REIGNING KING

1 Kings 4:20-25

20 The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore; they ate, they drank and they were happy. 21 And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These countries brought tribute and were Solomon's subjects all his life. 22 Solomon's daily provisions were thirty cors of fine flour and sixty cors of meal, 23 ten head of stall-fed cattle, twenty of pasture-fed cattle and a hundred sheep and goats, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks and choice fowl. 24 For he ruled over all the kingdoms west of the River, from Tiphsah to Gaza, and had peace on all sides. 25 During Solomon's lifetime Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, lived in safety, each man under his own vine and fig tree.

NIV

Although we passed by the lists of names and positions they held in the court of Solomon, such as priests, secretaries, recorder, commander-in-chief, in charge of district officers, personal advisor, in charge of the palace, and the one in charge of forced labor. Then there were 12 district governors, each responsible for bringing supplies to the king for one month. So, we now jump ahead to see that the people of Israel were happy. They were living in peace for the first time in a while, and now they could drink and be happy. Under the rule of Solomon, all was well, and he lived as large as any man could. He must have fed his whole court every day with a feast beyond opulence. There  was a total of thirty whole cows devoured each day, along with one hundred goats and sheep. That had to feed hundreds of people in his palace, and how could they do anything else but drink, eat, and party on, because they also enjoyed both deer and male deer, the roebucks, gazelle, and choice fowl. But the point of all this was the reign of Solomon, and that all of Israel lived in safety, with each man under his own vine and fig tree. Of course, that did not mean each man owned his own vineyard, but the idea was that the people no longer had to live within a fortified city, and they could spread out and cultivate their land and eat the fruit of their own labor. This is the premise each person should live by, eating from the fruit of their own labor. Sadly, we have had leaders who would rather have people dependent on the government instead of their own labor. Greed is a killer of all people, but mostly the takers in life. Of course, we follow Jesus, and we are completely dependent on Jesus for life, and we are told to look to Jesus for all our needs. Under the reign of Christ, we can live in peace, enjoy the fruit of our labor, and cultivate our own land. For us, that may not mean becoming farmers, but to cultivate the word of God, the seed into the soil of this land, people. With the parable that Jesus taught about the four kinds of ground, not all that we cultivate will develop into a believer, but some will; but the point is, we need to sow the seed. If we just hang out with our own, then what are we doing? That’s a hard question, and we should ponder this more. How can we enjoy the fruit of our own labor? How can we sow the seed? Is just turning the lights on at church enough? Jesus said that he would build his church and the gates of hell will not prevail, so we should look to Jesus and sow that seed. What does Jesus lead us to do because he is our reigning King?