DATE POSTED Tuesday, 2022-10-18
WRITTEN AT: Okeechobee, FL

SCRIPTURE FROM: 1 Kings 10:6-7; 9
TRANSLATION: Living Bible (TLB)

BIBLE TEXT: ⁶ She exclaimed to him, “Everything I heard in my own country about your wisdom and about the wonderful things going on here is all true. ⁷ I didn’t believe it until I came, but now I have seen it for myself! And really! The half had not been told me! Your wisdom and prosperity are far greater than anything I’ve ever heard of! 
⁹ Blessed be the Lord your God who chose you and set you on the throne of Israel. How the Lord must love Israel—for he gave you to them as their king! And you give your people a just, good government!”

APPLICATION: Queen Sheba heard of all the good things happening to King Solomon and how successful his reign was. However, she didn’t look for ways to seek to harm him or pull him down so that she might look greater than he was. Instead, she chose to go a see for herself, perhaps hoping that Solomon could give her a few words of good advice. But the main thing I appreciated about her visit, can be found in our focal verses. Notice that the queen probably didn’t find the king gloating in his riches, or too busy trying to hoard additional riches, but instead her eyes were opened to the fact that God didn’t just bless the king to be the richest king in all the world, as he was, but that God wanted His chosen people, who Solomon reigned over, to have the best. That made me think about life today. We visit a church today and we immediately think of the rich folk that must attend church there, because it is evident that the leadership spared no expense in erecting the best building and filling it with nothing but the best in fixtures and material goods. If visiting from a small, average income community, we may feel intimidated by all the lush furnishings, the lavish outfitting of all rooms, etc. But what if we did like Sheba and met with the leadership of that church, do you suppose that we may find out that perhaps God does have a purpose in providing the very best for that community? Friends, I believe that when unbelievers are used to going to the lavish stores, restaurants, and theaters in their community, and we invite them to come and worship with us in a dilapidated building where we meet for church, might they not resort to picturing God as one who does nothing to help His people who meet in His name to worship Him? I visited a Christian-based theme park once, and I was almost thrown off by the lavish gold, or gold-plated bathroom fixtures, the outstanding costumes worn by the actors and the buildings erected. But then, it was like God spoke to me and asked, ‘why not?’. If we visited a worldly king, like Sheba did, and found old, outdated buildings and fixtures, we would think that country must be in bad shape financially and about to fold. So, as we think of a place that we meet with the King of all kings, the God of this whole universe, shouldn’t we expect to meet His royalty in a place fit for a King? Surely, we don’t want to be embarrassed if an earthly king entered our sanctuary. How much more should we want to be proud of opening the doors for our heavenly King? Queen Sheba was convinced that God was blessing King Solomon because of His love for the people that he served, protected and judged. Should we expect anything less today? We must get our sights off self and everything we could do, and instead set our sights on meeting the needs of our community as we introduce them to the Great I Am. Construction is super expensive today, so let me encourage you to give from the very bottom of your heart as you seek to do your part, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to minister to your respective communities. They need the Lord, perhaps worse than anyone sitting in your church on a regular basis.

BLESSING(S) NOTED: We will often look inward for reasons why God should bless or has been blessing our efforts. But I was reminded that God has a much bigger picture in mind when He blesses His church. There’s a community of unchurched people out there that are in desperate need of a Savior.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I was reminded that Your ways are much greater than our ways, and that Your purpose is always to win the heart of Your people – even those who we may feel are not worth our time. We may boast of our multimillion-dollar church buildings, but Lord, I pray that You would open our eyes so that we may catch a glimpse of the souls that will be touched in our community through the services from these church buildings. Please help us to realize very early in life many of the things that we claim as ours, are actually designed for Your glory and to benefit Your Kingdom. Teach us Lord to not claim ownership of anything that we dedicate to You. Solomon spent many years building the temple, but in the end, He surrendered it all for your service only. May we learn to do the same Lord, for only what’s don’t for Jesus will last and have eternal benefit. Be glorified Lord in everything that we do, and in anything that we take part in, so that others may see Jesus and be filled with Your glory for all eternity. AMEN!

FOOTNOTE: There are two more pages on my blog that will provide you with additional information, one of them being ‘To Know Jesus’. If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please click on the above page, or speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. Please allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Words underlined in my blog might indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to Nuggets From God’s Word and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. You may also visit me on Spotify and listen to Nuggets while you’re out and about. I would encourage you to find a church home near by your home, and attend as frequently as you could. Get to know God, and allow His people to encourage and strengthen you in your Christian walk, while making every effort to be a blessing to them. God is at work among His people! Please consider growing in your faith, as you worship with fellow believers!