Sun.’s Devo - The Rightful King

Read: 1 Kings 1:1-53; Acts 4:1-37; Psalm 124:1-8; Proverbs 16:24 David was old and could not keep warm so they brought in a young virgin named Abishag to care for him and keep him warm at night. Interesting note: Abishag means “my father erred.” She came to the kingdom as David’s son, Adonijah self-proclaimed himself to be the king. David had never questioned anything Adonijah did, so Adonijah was never disciplined by his father. Adonijah convinced Joab, Abiathar the priest to help him but they excluded Zadok the priest Benaiah, Nathan, Shimei, and Rei and the mighty men of David. Adonijah took sacrificial animals down to the Rock of the Serpentine (snake), which was in En-rogel (fount of the spy) and invited all of David’s sons except Solomon. There he pronounced himself the king. Nathan went to Bathsheba to tell her to go in and speak to David about it. He would go behind her and confirm her words. When David heard both of them, he proclaimed that Solomon would be his predecessor and sit on his throne. David told them to have Solomon ride on his donkey to the Gihon river. There they were to anoint Solomon king, blow the horn and say, God save king Solomon. The people yelled it too. The sound of rejoicing was so loud that the earth ripped open with the sound. All of the men with Adonijah heard the sound and wondered what it could mean. Abiathar’s son, Jonathan came to tell them the news. He told them of the celebration and what everyone was saying about Solomon being the king. Everyone was in favor of it. All of Adonijah’s guest scattered in fear and Adonijah was so afraid for his own life that he went and caught hold on the horns of the altar. When Solomon heard about what Adonijah had done, he had him brought to him. He told him that he could live as long as he didn’t cause any trouble. He sent him home. In Acts, Peter and John were teaching the crowd when the priests and many Sadducees came to confront them. The Sadducees were upset that they were teaching that Jesus rose from the dead since they didn’t believe in a resurrection. And, they were upset that now 5,000 had decided to believe what they were saying. They couldn’t deny the fact that the crippled man was standing right there totally healed. Peter spoke and preached Jesus to them. They were amazed that such unlearned men could know so much about scripture. It was apparent that they had learned from Jesus. The leaders conferred among themselves as to what to do about all this. They finally brought Peter and John in and told them to stop teaching about Jesus. Peter and John answered that they could not obey them over God and could not help but tell what they had seen and heard. The leaders had no recourse but to set them free. They feared the people. In both stories, this is what happens when the people rise up with the truth. Government and Satan’s kingdom is afraid of the masses. When America decides to unite for justice and freedom, the government will be afraid of us instead of vice versa. They are elected to serve us. We pay them. Lord, may we unite under your banner to fight for truth and justice in Your land. We pray that Your man, Your anointed, be the President over our land.