Thurs.’s Devo - God’s Abundance

Read: 1 Kings 9:1-10:29, Acts 8:14-40, Ps. 130:1-8, Pr. 17:2-3 God appeared to Solomon and put his stamp of approval on his house and temple. He promised to dwell there as long as Israel stayed true to Him. Sadly, Israel didn’t and God cut them off and cast them out of His sight. In 1948, there time of exile was over and God blessed them once again and brought them back to their land. Notice all the “6’s” in this reading. Solomon paid Hiram 666 talents of gold for helping him build all this buildings. The gold Solomon gave the queen of Sheba was 666 talents of gold, 600 shekels of gold went into each target, the throne had 6 steps, and the chariot from Egypt cost 600 shekels. Six is the number of man since man was created on the sixth day. Is Solomon becoming full of himself? Solomon made slaves of all his enemies and paid his own people to be in his army and his leaders. He also established a navy which brought him gold, peacocks, clothes, silver, armor, spices, horses and mules every year - not like any navy I’ve heard of :). Bottom line: Solomon was the richest man on the earth because God blessed him. He was a picture of God’s abundance. He couldn’t seem to keep his glory to himself and shared it with God’s enemies which brought him problems. In Acts, we see the apostles laying hands on the people so they could receive the Holy Ghost. When Simon, the once magician, saw this power he wanted it for all the wrong reasons. He was used to wowing the people with his magic and missed the power he once had. The devil does have power to do miracles and even good things, but his agenda is always to destroy. He’ll do anything for trust but he is the great deceiver. Simon had to be taught this new power that couldn’t be bought with man’s money. Interesting note is that the Ethiopian was from a place where queens rule like the queen of Sheba. They could have been from the same general place. Lord, help us to stay humble when You choose to bless us with Your abundance. Everything comes from You.