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December 31 - 1 Kings 3 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Tuesday and it is December 31st, the last
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  day of 2024. What a remarkable day to find
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  ourselves on at the end of the year and what a wonderful way
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  for us to spend a moment of this day settling in and continuing
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  our rhythm of spending time in God's Word.
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  And today is one of those classic chapters that you have
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  known since you were a little Tucker in Sunday school.
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  Yes, this is the chapter where where God grants Solomon A wish
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  and Solomon asks for wisdom and then he judges wisely between
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  the two women claiming to be mother of a baby.
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  So while you know this story, we are going to listen with fresh
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  ears and we are going to hear what it is that God has to
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  communicate to us through His Word today.
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  So Holy Spirit, come on this last day of the year, be present
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  in US and shape us as we hear your Word and receive your
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  message with an open heart. Well friends, nothing left to do
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  but to read together First Kings chapter 3.
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  Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and
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  married one of his daughters. He brought her to live in the
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  city of David until he could finish building his palace and
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  the temple of the Lord and the walls surrounding the city.
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  At that time the people of Israel sacrificed their
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  offerings at local places of worship, for a temple honouring
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  the name of the Lord had not yet been built.
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  Solomon loved the Lord and followed all the decrees of his
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  father David, except that Solomon too offered sacrifices
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  and burned incense at the local places of worship.
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  The most important of these places of worship was at Gibeon,
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  so the king went there and sacrificed 1000 burnt offerings.
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  That night the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream.
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  And God said, What do you want? Ask and I will give it to you,
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  Solomon replied. You showed great and faithful
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  love to your servant, my father David, because he was honest and
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  true and faithful to you, and you have continued to show this
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  great and faithful love to him to day by giving him a son to
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  sit on his throne. Now, O Lord my God, you have
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  chosen me King, instead of my father David.
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  But I am like a little child who doesn't know his way around, and
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  here I am in the midst of your own chosen people, a nation so
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  great and numerous they cannot be counted.
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  Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people
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  well and know the difference between right and wrong.
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  For who by himself is able to govern this great people of
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  yours? The Lord was pleased that
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  Solomon had asked for wisdom. So God replied, because you have
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  asked for wisdom in governing my people with justice, and have
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  not asked for a long life, a wealth, or the death of your
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  enemies, I will give you what you asked for.
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  I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no
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  one else has had or ever will have.
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  And I will also give you what you did not ask for, riches and
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  fame. No other king in all the world
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  will be compared to you for the rest of your life.
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  And if you follow me and obey my decrees and my commands as your
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  father David did, I will give you a long life.
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  Then Solomon woke up and realised it had been a dream.
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  He returned to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the
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  Lord's covenant, where he sacrifice burnt offerings and
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  peace offerings. Then he invited all his
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  officials to a great banquet. Some time later, 2 prostitutes
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  came to the king to have an argument settled.
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  Please, my Lord, one of them began.
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  This woman and I live in the same house.
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  I gave birth to a baby while she was with me in the house.
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  Three days later this woman also had a baby.
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  We were alone. There were only two of us in the
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  house, but her baby died during the night when she rolled over
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  on it. Then she got up in the night and
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  took my son from beside me. While I was asleep.
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  She laid her dead child in my arms and took mine to sleep
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  beside her. And in the morning, when I tried
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  to nurse my son, he was dead. But when I looked more closely
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  in the morning light, I saw that it wasn't my son at all.
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  Then the other woman interrupted.
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  It certainly was your son, and the living child is mine.
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  No, the first woman said, the living child is mine and the
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  dead 1 is yours. And so they argued back and
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  forth before the king. Then the king said, let's Get
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  the facts straight. Both of you claim the living
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  child is yours, and each says that the dead 1 belongs to the
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  other. All right, bring me a sword.
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  So a sword was brought to the king.
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  Then he said, Cut the living child in two, and give half to
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  one woman and half to the other. Then the woman who was the real
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  mother of the living child, and who loved him very much, cried
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  out, Oh no, my Lord, give her the child, please do not kill
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  him. But the other woman said, all
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  right, he will be neither yours nor mine.
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  Divide him between us. Then the king said, Do not kill
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  the child, but give him to the woman who wants him to live, for
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  she is his mother. When all Israel heard the King's
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  decision, the people were in awe of the king, for they saw the
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  wisdom God had given him for rendering justice.
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  Ah Lord, we see in this chapter that you certainly do love a
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  servant heart. And Jesus, we saw the way that
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  you lived, always looking for ways to serve others, and in
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  great and small ways, always giving, always serving, always
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  for the other. Our Lord, it is human nature for
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  us to always think of our own needs and for those needs to
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  sound awfully loud in the dialogue of our mind.
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  Our Lord, I just pray that You soften our hearts and transform
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  us from the inside out, giving us Your servant heart that we
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  would yearn for others, and that just as Your love is a selfless
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  love, that You would shape us to have that same selfless love.
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  And when we get that wrong and we look after our own needs
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  first, as we are going to do, because that's how we roll.
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  Our Lord, continue that long and good work of transformation
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  where the fruits of Your Spirit grow more evident in US every
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  day. Give us Your wisdom.
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  Thank you that your Holy Spirit lives in US, softening us,
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  wisening us, and transforming us every day.
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  We just give you free reign of our hearts and praise you.
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  And it's in your name that we pray, Jesus, Amen.