Prepare and Negotiate!
Opening Prayer
Lord, You alone can save, satisfy, and strengthen my inner being. You are my source of all health and inner healing.
Read 1 KINGS 5:1-18
[1]
Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it… Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart” (Psa. 24:1,3-4).
Think Further
I have on a number of occasions heard people, when asked what they do, say in an apologetic voice something like, “Oh, I’m not in Christian service.” How sad, and what a misunderstanding of biblical teaching. If they are in the place where God wants them to be, doing the job that God has led them into, then of course they are in Christian service.
This chapter may be talking about preparations for the building of the Temple, but look at what is affirmed here. It was because Lebanon had worked hard to build up their forestry industry that the cedars were able to be used. It was because Israelite farmers had worked hard to learn and use their skills that there were crops to trade with. Sailors controlling the log rafts, builders and stone cutters all played a part in building the Temple. If there had not been an effective infrastructure in these areas of business, industry and commerce then there is no way that the Temple project could ever have been started. Even the skills in international diplomacy exhibited by Solomon and Hiram are shown to be important. Moreover, without David’s previous relationship, not related to the Temple, that diplomacy would have been so much harder. A good system of manufacturing and commerce is necessary for any society to survive. The Bible has much to say about how such a system should function, but it never gives the impression that those believers who work in these areas are any less servants of God than those who work as preachers or teachers or pastors among God’s people. If you ever catch yourself thinking or saying something that might make such work sound less valuable–then think again!
Apply
“…Your wish is my command” (8, The Message). Apply this response to your relationship to the Lord. Reflect on what it means to you.
Closing prayer
Loving Lord, I lift up fellow believers who struggle with their work. Encourage them to know that all work well done is pleasing to You.
Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.
© 2024 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.
Encounter with God is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.