April 14th

April 14th -- 1 Kings 3:16-28 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Kings%203:16-28&version=NLT)

Solomon judges wisely

So after this wisdom is granted to Solomon by God, two prostitutes come to Solomon arguing over a baby. They were from the same house and both had a child within a few days of each other. The only two there were these two. The women speaking claims the other woman's child died when the woman rolled over in the night and crushed it. She says that then the woman came and took her child and put the dead child at her side. The other woman, though, claimed the living one was hers. They end up just arguing back and forth over whose child is the dead one and whose is the living one that they are fighting over. Solomon clarifies that they are both trying to claim the baby as their own, and when they agree, he asks for a sword. He says that he will then cut the child in half, so they will each have half. One woman cries out asking that he give her to the other woman and not kill him, but the other says that he should divide him as he has said. Solomon said not to kill the child, but give him to the woman who said to give him away. He said she was clearly the mother, for she wanted her child to live badly enough that she would give him away. When people in Israel heard about this, they were in awe of Solomon's wisdom.

I have always loved this story. The first reason was that it has a happy ending, because the real mom gets her child back, which is awesome. The second is the fact that it shows not to doubt people, because they can always surprise you. Solomon was still pretty young when he was made king. Biblically it's made to sound like he was maybe a teenager. A teenager ruling a country. Anyone seen Princess Diaries? Yeah, that's my first thought. Of course, back then, people would probably have really looked down on him for it. Yet, then this case came along, and he was incredibly brilliant about it all. It seemed to have shocked people. So, it just goes to show, don't doubt people. Especially don't doubt them due to age. Later on in the Bible we hear about Timothy, who is a perfect example. And in 1 Timothy 4:12 it says "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young... " God uses everyone, even if we don't expect it, so never doubt people who are living for God.

Well, that's all! God bless! Shalom!