Tag: 1 Kings

1 Kings 19:9 What Doest Thou Here?

1 Kings 19:9 (KJV)
And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?

“What doest thou here?” 
The question is of such significance that God puts it to the prophet twice.[1] The first was in Judah, a day’s journey from Israel. The second was at Mt Horeb, in the wilderness, where Moses received the Ten Commandments. Though God had sustained him on his trip to Horeb, neither place was where God had put him.

Gill writes,
“..this is not a proper place for a prophet to be in, in a wilderness, in a mountain, in a cave in it: what work could he do for God? or what service to his people? in the land of Israel he might bear his testimony against idolatry, and so be a means of reclaiming backsliders, and of establishing those that were in the true religion; but of what usefulness could he be here?”

We have a weakened view of faith whenever we take the view that we can practice our faith anywhere we choose. It’s as much as saying we are our own “god of location.”

Elijah felt justified in fleeing.

  • He had left Elisha there to continue the ministry

  • He had been threatened of life by Jezebel

  • He had gone to Horeb in the strength of God’s provision

He had gone first to Judah, where God’s Temple was, and then to Horeb, where the Ten Commandments had been delivered.[2] But none of this was where God had designed Elijah to serve. 

His flight as much as admitted his faith so strongly professed in chapter eighteen, was shallow, if not a show.[3]

  • God had a place for Abraham to move

  • God had a place Isaac was not to leave

  • God had a place Jacob must return

  • God had a place promised to Israel

  • God had a place designated for each of the tribes

  • God had a place Elijah was to serve

Who are we to believe God is pleased whenever we choose out our own place to serve?

Eventually God brought Elijah back to Israel. There was just no other place he could be an be what God where and what God designed for him to be.

[1] Again in verse 13

[2] Many Bible students believe Mt Horeb and Mt Sinai are the same.

[3] Very often what we profess with our mouths, and even what we boldly do with our hands is a ruse to cover what we sense in our heart.

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

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For this and, more than 5900 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

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1 Kings 19:9 What Doest Thou Here?

1 Kings 14:7 Don’t Let Sin Lead to Greater Sin

1 Kings 14:7 (KJV)
Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel,

The rebellion of Jeroboam against Jerusalem is obvious and blatant. God’s promise was for the throne to belong in Jerusalem and to the seed of David. This in no way means that David’s family was perfect and wouldn’t be tested.

Jeroboam was a test in much the same way that Nebuchadnezzar was a test. God used each man to chasten, correct, and develop his people. Jeroboam did an evil thing just as much as Nebuchadnezzar did. But both men were tools of the Lord, and both men could have sought the Lord.

Jeroboam went farther than God allowed.  Having separated from Judah, which was wrong, he did more wrong. It was this that God judged.

None of us are perfect. We do wrong. God can and will use it. 

  • It might be that we learn lessons from our wrong
  • It might be He uses our wrongs to teach someone else lessons

But that God uses it in no way means He approves of it. Nor does it mean He supports our doing what will almost certainly happen, that we slip into a state of further spiritual decline. 

The thing to do is repent and turn to God. Don’t let one sin lead to greater sins.

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 5900 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

1 Kings 14:7 Don’t Let Sin Lead to Greater Sin

1 Kings 10:9 Except I See

1 Kings 10:9 (KJV)
Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice.

Word had gotten to the Queen of all that was happening in Jerusalem. Reports were such that it was not enough to hear about them. She had to see for herself. This would have been no small venture. 

  • After asking her “hard questions” and Solomon’s answers 
  • After seeing his kingdom, his riches, and the happiness of his people 

she said the half had not been told, and she would have believed if she had not seen with her own eyes.

This brings to my mind both a positive and a negative perspective.

From the positive
I am thinking of the person who hears of Jesus Christ, perhaps even rejoices in the reports about the Lord, and is happy for those who enjoy their relationship with Him but do not come to know Christ on their own. A person will never know the fullness of what it means to know Christ unless they know Him for themselves.

From the negative
I am thinking of Thomas, of whom the Bible says,
John 20:25 (KJV)
The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

He refused to believe the reports of the others. He had to see for himself. The Bible goes on,
John 20:27-29 (KJV)
Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Our world is filled with souls today who refuse to come to Christ because they, in effect, have said, “Except I shall see…I will not believe.“

Perhaps the Queen of Sheba betrayed her doubtful nature when, after all, was said and done, she gave glory, not to God but to Solomon, when she said the Lord loved Israel and therefore made Solomon king. None of what she witnessed was because of Solomon. She used the name of the Lord, but she only saw Solomon.

Is it not a faithless perspective that credits the man God uses and not the God who uses the man?

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 5900 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

1 Kings 10:9 Except I See

1 Kings 8:37 “If” and “Then”

1 Kings 8:37 (KJV)
If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpiller; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;

Solomon’s prayer of dedication is thirty verses long. Nine times he uses the conjunction “if.” Seven times he requests of God, “Then hear thou [their prayer].[1]” This is an unusually long prayer by the standards of the Bible and one that would be challenging to compose. Solomon seems to try to think of every possible event that might happen in the future of his nation. The formula he repeats is,

If[2] + (an unknown variable) + prayer = “Then hear thou.”

Solomon, in God’s wisdom, could foresee certain possibilities in Israel. He could not anticipate them all. He did not pray that God would answer all the possibilities ahead of time. He prayed that God’s people would pray in whatever the event and that, when they prayed, God would hear and answer.

Life is filled with any number of possibilities. We would never be able to enumerate them all. What we can do is, regardless of the event,

  • Turn to the Lord 
  • Pray, and 
  • Trust the Lord to answer

It is a reasonable prayer to ask God to hear whatever our prayer, whenever we turn to Him in prayer.

[1] His prayer included that Israel, in the future, would pray.

[2] In the event of

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 5900 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

1 Kings 8:37 “If” and “Then”

1 Kings 6:1 The Christ of Christianity

1 Kings 6:1 (KJV)
And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.

It was four hundred eighty years between when Israel left Egypt to when construction of the Temple began. It took another seven years to complete.

I don’t want to imply that things were always grand before the Temple was built, but I do think we’d be hard-pressed to find anyone after its completion that compares to the likes of

  • Moses
  • Joshua
  • Samuel or
  • David

Even Solomon, in all his glory, seems to be a foretelling of what was to come. The man who built the Temple could, himself, not remain faithful to the God for whom it was built.

The Temple went through several iterations.

  • Solomon’s
  • Zerubbabel’s
  • Herod’s

No doubt the presence of God was in the Temple. It is also evident that the spiritual condition of Israel could be measured by their care of the Temple. But it also became something like an idol to them. Even the disciples wanted to brag about the glory of the Temple, apparently missing the contrast between the physical structure and the glorious Temple, which is Christ.

I am of the opinion much too much emphasis is placed on buildings, enhancements to them, and their meaning to that which is spiritual. I am convinced many only see the structure of Christianity and miss the Christ of Christianity entirely.

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 5900 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

1 Kings 6:1 The Christ of Christianity

1 Kings 4:7 An Officer and A Privilege

1 Kings 4:7 (KJV)
And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, which provided victuals for the king and his household: each man his month in a year made provision.

One would suppose being an officer over any part of Israel would be quite the privilege and honor. 

  • It’s a position of authority
  • It’s a position on notoriety
  • It’s a position of power

The truth was it was none of those.

It was a position of responsibility
These twelve were responsible for providing for the requirements of the king’s court one month out of every year. They would be accountable for managing the portion of Israel they oversaw to ensure it was producing. They would have been responsible for collecting, transporting, and delivering those provisions.

It was a position of humility
Far from being one of notoriety, their names were not even provided in this inspired, infallible, and eternal record.

Leadership was originally a position of service 
The king and the officers were first in battle. Officers were often the first to die. Lieutenants in Vietnam were nearly more expendable than sergeants. Generals led the charge on the beaches of Normandy.

In our age of entitlement, everyone wants to be treated and paid, as well as the higher ranks. Few of them want to bear the burdens associated with those ranks.

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 5900 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

1 Kings 4:7 An Officer and A Privilege

1 Kings 1:4 The Honor of Glorifying Christ

1 Kings 1:4 (KJV)
And the damsel was very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him: but the king knew her not.

The Preacher’s Homiletical[1] says of this passage, “The cherishing of Abishag was, 1. Advised by the court physicians. 2. Was innocent.  3. Suspended only for a brief season, the inevitable progress of decay.”

I find four words in verses 2-4 to describe the duties of Abishag

To Stand before the king
Which simply means to remain with him. Her duties required her physical presence. He was cold. The warmth of her body was prescribed as a source of heat. That would not serve if she were not constantly present.

To cherish the king
The Hebrew word has the meaning of being used. She was a benefit to the king. Her body’s warmth was given over to bring warmth to the dying and cold body of the king.

To minister to the king
In whatever manner he would have needed.

Finally, to lie with the king
There is no reason to assume this is sexual. The king was very old and would die within the year.

What was sought and found for David was, in their time and medical experience, medicinal. It was what they knew would serve to give the king warmth. But for Abishag, it was costly. Though she was willing and likely considered it an honor, it was also a sacrifice. Taking Adonijah’s desire to wed her and Solomon’s reaction to that desire, it is certain she never married. Abishag, a fair, young virgin sacrificed her future happiness for the comfort of an old man in his dying days.

May God find in us a willingness to sacrifice our happiness for the honor of glorifying Him in this dark and cold world.

[1] I’ve reduced this down to just the main points.

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 5900 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

1 Kings 1:4 The Honor of Glorifying Christ

1 Kings 19:7 Bigger and Better

1 Kings 19:7 (KJV)
And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee.

I think it is possible that this cake of bread was sufficient to provide not only the first meal, but the second and perhaps enough to take along for his journey. That this bread was enough for a forty-day journey is supernatural. How he came to have it is a miracle indeed. 

It is interesting that Elijah seemed so casual about talking with the angel of the LORD and of eating food he had provided. 

  • Perhaps this was a consequence of his depression 
  • Perhaps he was so weary he could not express himself
  • Perhaps he was so accustomed to God’s provision that it didn’t impress him anymore 

I think we get this way over time. When at first, we meet the Lord, everything is brand new, fresh, and exciting. After a while, some years maybe, we lose our passion for what God is doing because it isn’t that much different than what God has done. 

I am afraid we treat God like some sort of thrill ride. We get bored with Him unless we have bigger and better answers to prayer or bigger and better spiritual experiences. What, may I ask, could ever be bigger and better than being born again?

Oh, that God might feed us day by day and that we never lose the wonder that He has done so.

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

For this and, more than 5300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

1 Kings 19:7 Bigger and Better

1 Kings 9:2 His Presence Has Moved

1 Kings 9:2 (KJV)
That the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon.

The Lord displayed His presence in the Temple with His glory. Here God displays for Solomon His continuing fellowship as the house of God transferred from the Tabernacle of the congregation to the new Temple. 

  • He not only resided there
  • He spoke to the people from there

The Word of God clearly declares that His presence and communication has moved today from the Tabernacle, to the Temple, and now to the New Testament Baptist Church 

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

For this and, more than 5300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

1 Kings 9:2 His Presence Has Moved

1 Kings 18:17-18 Who’s the Real Troubler?

1 Kings 18:17-18 (KJV)
And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?
And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim.

Ahab accused Elijah of causing all the trouble in Israel. Elijah turned it around and said the troubler of Israel was Ahab. 

Elijah had:

  • Preached that there would be no rain
  • Trusted that the Lord would care for him
  • Helped to build the faith of the widow and her son

Ahab had:

  • Forsaken the commandments of the Lord and
  • Followed Baalim 

There was famine and drought and with it much loss. But the troubler of Israel was not the praying preacher. The troubler of Israel was the unbelieving king. 

Our country is pointing fingers at Christians today as if we are the problem in the world. Truly our world has problems but, just as it was in Elijah’s time, the troublers today are not the Christians. The troublers right now, the ones causing unrest and harm, are those who have rejected God for the gods of this world. 

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

For this and, more than 5300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

1 Kings 18:17-18 Who’s the Real Troubler?