Corona Devo 769

What lengths will we go to get our way?

Sometimes we are willing to kill someone else's dream/idea/joy simply because we have brokenness that has stolen ours.

And sometimes the opposite is true: people seek to steal-our-joy because something/someone has stolen theirs.

Only by seeking God's wisdom can we decipher our true motives and reveal the reality of others...and proceed with God's wisdom for rendering justice in our lives.

Lord, help us to see through the pain/hurt/reaction of-the-response and help us to be wise in You, and wise in our response to others. You (alone) know the root of the response (ours and others) and only You can reveal it and heal it. Reveal your wisdom to us as we seek You today, Lord. Amen.

Some time later two prostitutes came to the king (Solomon) to have an argument settled. (17) “Please, my lord,” one of them began, “this woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a baby while she was with me in the house. (18) Three days later this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there were only two of us in the house.

(19) “But her baby died during the night when she rolled over on it. (20) Then she got up in the night and took my son from beside me while I was asleep. She laid her dead child in my arms and took mine to sleep beside her. (21) And in the morning when I tried to nurse my son, he was dead! But when I looked more closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t my son at all.”

(22) Then the other woman interrupted, “It certainly was your son, and the living child is mine.”

“No,” the first woman said, “the living child is mine, and the dead one is yours.” And so they argued back and forth before the king.

(23) Then the king said, “Let’s get the facts straight. Both of you claim the living child is yours, and each says that the dead one belongs to the other. (24) All right, bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought to the king.

(25) Then he said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to one woman and half to the other!”

(26) Then the woman who was the real mother of the living child, and who loved him very much, cried out, “Oh no, my lord! Give her the child—please do not kill him!”

But the other woman said, “All right, he will be neither yours nor mine; divide him between us!”

(27) Then the king said, “Do not kill the child, but give him to the woman who wants him to live, for she is his mother!”

(28) When all Israel heard the king’s decision, the people were in awe of the king, for they saw the wisdom God had given him for rendering justice. ~I Kings 3:16-28

Of course the real mom would cry out.

And we must cry-out against blatant sin or evil in our lives and in our world...(here--the loss of life of a child).

The hurt/broken/embittered woman could not see past herself and her entitlement, and so she argued justice for herself at the cost of others. It sounds raw and shallow...but (if I am honest), I have done the very same thing. So have you.

In our own "wisdom" we can become so blinded by our (selfish) pain and desires, that we attempt to sacrifice the promise and undeveloped potential of other's (ideas/joy/success). We may even be willing to accept (or seek!) the "death" of another's joy as some twisted consolation-prize for our own unhappiness and brokenness.

But thinking/feeling/acting/living like this is "man's" wisdom--not God's. And there can be no true or lasting fulfillment in it. A wise heart, a loving heart, a heart-after-God's heart seeks the decision that brings life, even if we are not the ones who will benefit directly from that decision. The heart-after-God's seeks wisdom for rendering judgment.

Then the woman who was the real mother of the living child, and who loved him very much, cried out, “Oh no, my lord! Give her the child—please do not kill him!” ~I Kings 3:26

We must cry out against blatant sin. We must cry out for God's justice in a self-serve world. We must cry out and have a voice for those who do not have voices for themselves.

In this story, the one woman's brokenness/ignorance/entitlement/emotions/human-wisdom was dictating her decision to end another's life.

Lord, grant our minds Your wisdom: to think as You think.

Lord, grant our hearts Your wisdom, to feel as You do.

Lord, grant our spirits Your wisdom--to discern decisions that we could not make on our own.

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When all Israel heard the king’s decision, the people were in awe of the king, for they saw the wisdom God had given him for rendering justice. ~I Kings 3:28

Lord, grant us Your wisdom for rendering justice in our lives. Help us to see past false motives and reactive responses in ourselves and others. You DO grant wisdom to those seeking it, and we are seeking Your wisdom for rendering justice in our lives today. Amen.

Blessings,

Sarah

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com