Bible Study: Grow Old Gracefully 04.21.10

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Today is Wednesday April 21, 2010 and we are reading through the Bible in a year. Today's message comes from the reading of the Book of I Kings, chapters 1-2. If you would like to read the chapters along with us here online you can Click Here to read them or copy & paste this URL onto your browser: http://www.readytofollow.com/bible-april-21

Title: Bible Study: Grow Old Gracefully
As Christians age, although our physical strength may diminish, our spiritual strength grows stronger, as long as we stay strong in the Lord. It is important that we never stop strengthening ourselves spiritually as the more we do the more we can handle the circumstances we face as we grow old gracefully.

The book of I Kings is the eleventh book of the Old Testament/Bible and contains twenty-two chapters. The author of the book is Jeremiah and it was written to the Israelites. The purpose of the book was to record God's dealings with His people from King Solomon's reign, through the division of the kingdom, through the reigns of Ahab in the north and Jehoshaphat in the south. What we are to learn from the book is that compromise may seem the best thing to do, but it is always costly later.

King David was growing old and his health was diminishing rapidly, it was time for him to anoint a new king. God had already appointed Solomon to be the next king, but there was yet another son, Adonijah, he was a little older and thought he had the right to be king. Presuming that since he was the oldest living son of David this gave him the right to the throne, and disregarding his father's prolonged illness, Adonijah ruthlessy attempted to seize the throne by force. “Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king: and he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. And his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so? and he also was a very goodly man; and his mother bare him after Absalom. And he conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest: and they following Adonijah helped him.” - I Kings 1:5-7. Adonijah, persuaded the two most influential men in Israel to join him and become traitors to David. Abiathar, the high priest, through whom Adonijah would have religious approval by the people, and the powerful Joab, commander-in-chief of David's army, cooperated with Adonijah in this ruthless conspiracy. There is always going to be someone who thinks he can walk over a person because they are physically unable to stand up to him. Of course, he has to get other people involved because he really has no capability to do it on his own. Have you ever seen the people who are the root of all the evil? They always get a bunch of self absorbed egos to do their dirty work for them. Think about it, the root of all evil is Satan himself, he enlists the most proud, self centered people to do his work for him, but the truth is that he is a coward, and so is every other person who persuades good people to fall. They will be the ones who will fall in the end.

Adonijah gathered all his men together for a feast to celebrate his inauguration, little did they know that while they were partying, the real king was being anointed. “And the king sware, and said, As the LORD liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress, Even as I sware unto thee by the LORD God of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead; even so will I certainly do this day.....And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon. And all the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them. And Adonijah and all the guests that were with him heard it as they had made an end of eating. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, Wherefore is this noise of the city being in an uproar?...And all the guests that were with Adonijah were afraid, and rose up, and went every man his way. And Adonijah feared because of Solomon, and arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. And it was told Solomon, saying, Behold, Adonijah feareth king Solomon: for, lo, he hath caught hold on the horns of the altar, saying, Let king Solomon swear unto me today that he will not slay his servant with the sword.” - I Kings 1:29,30,39-41,49-51. The tables have turned, every person who conspired to take the throne from Solomon ran and now Adonijah is fearing for his life. One can not prosper by using ones illness or doing things behind others backs, they might even think that they have gotten away with things, but they will all get caught eventually and find themselves fearing their lives as Adonijah did.

David faced some really huge disappointments in his life, from the time he was to reign, to his great sin with Bathsheba, to the constant battles with his sons. From a human point of view, all of David's disappointments were a tragedy but, from God's point of view, they were designed to expose the selfish and greedy motives in the hearts of those who were supposed to be loyal and close friends. They were also a clear revelation of the sovereign hand of God over the practical concerns in everyone's life. David's strength did not come from physical endurance, it came from God and that is what made him prosperous. David said, “As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him. For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God? It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.” - Psalm 18:30-32. Most of my life I can relate to what David had gone through. There was always someone trying to take advantage of my hospitality, I got deceived by those I thought were friends and by loved ones, I was hated by people I worked with because I got promoted the right way. Oh, I too sinned and faced the consequences of my sin, but the more that I suffered the closer I got to Jesus. He truly is the only one who could have saved me from where I was headed. Praise God that He took me out of the world and away from those so called friends and all the things that kept me away from Him.

We can all grow old gracefully and set an example for future generations to follow, but we must continue to become stronger spiritually, it is the only way that we can beat Satan at his game. Our strength comes from the Lord, the more we endure the stronger we become spiritually, physically, and mentally as well. “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” - Psalm 27:14.

Enjoy the rest of your day/night and week.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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