The Proud and The Humble

 DEVOTION

1st KINGS

THE PROUD AND THE HUMBLE

1 Kings 1:1-10

1:1 When King David was old and well advanced in years, he could not keep warm even when they put covers over him. 2 So his servants said to him, "Let us look for a young virgin to attend the king and take care of him. She can lie beside him so that our lord the king may keep warm." 3 Then they searched throughout Israel for a beautiful girl and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king. 4 The girl was very beautiful; she took care of the king and waited on him, but the king had no intimate relations with her. 5 Now Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, put himself forward and said, "I will be king." So he got chariots and horses ready, with fifty men to run ahead of him. 6(His father had never interfered with him by asking, "Why do you behave as you do?" He was also very handsome and was born next after Absalom.) 7 Adonijah conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, and they gave him their support. 8 But Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei and Rei and David's special guard did not join Adonijah. 9 Adonijah then sacrificed sheep, cattle and fattened calves at the Stone of Zoheleth near En Rogel. He invited all his brothers, the king's sons, and all the men of Judah who were royal officials, 10 but he did not invite Nathan the prophet or Benaiah or the special guard or his brother Solomon.

NIV

There is something positive as well as negative to be said about living to be old and well advanced in years. Although we wonder why this account records David as being so old that he could not keep warm. From what we know, he was thirty when he began his reign as king, as recorded in 2^nd Samuel 5, and he reigned for forty years. This would put David at seventy years of age, yet he was old and well advanced in years. It does not seem that seventy years old is that old to us, but then David spent many years in distress because of King Saul, as well as many years of war, being in many battles, which had to take a toll on his body. The young lady who waited on him was at the request of his servants, who looked after him and served their king well. But the problem is his son, the next oldest after Absalom, who tried to take over as king and who Joab killed in service to his king. Now Adonijah tries the same thing his older brother did, having fifty men run ahead of his chariot. This is not going to work, as we know, and we will see that Solomon will be the king of Israel, succeeding his father, King David. Why is it that men want that kind of power? Why did both Absalom and now Adonijah want to be the king of Israel? The kingship brings with it the authority to do whatever the king pleases, any pleasures of the flesh, as well as great wealth, living in abundance, and having people serve the king his every need. It would seem, as we have already witnessed in scripture, self-indulgence as well as greed motivate many evil intentions and behaviors. We are told to be self-controlled and not give in to our emotions or passions that would both harm ourselves as well as others. Another reason both these sons of David might have sought to take over his throne was because of pride, or thinking more highly of themselves than they should have. We are also told that we should learn from Jesus to be gentle and humble of heart. Humility would prevent hurt feelings or feeling offended. However, that is not an easy path. After all, we want to be seen and heard, because we have something important to say, at least we think we do. When do we learn, or do we have to keep learning, trying over and over again, failing, and trying again to be gentle and humble of heart? We will see that Solomon learned to be humble before the Lord and did not take revenge on his older brother. We may be put, by the hand of God, in certain positions in life, some that are accompanied by a certain amount of authority and/or responsibility. For the most part, when God makes someone responsible, he gives authority with it. Yet, no matter what place we temporarily reside in this community of believers, being of a humble heart is paramount to being subject to the authority of God. How could we even think to usurp the authority of the King of kings, as Adonijah tried to do from his father, the king? It is God who calls, and God who anoints, and God who has all the power and authority. Let’s live with a gentle and humble heart. It comes down to the proud and the humble.