Friday, September 5, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: 2 Samuel 24, 1 Kings 1-4
Devotional Thought
The books of Samuel end in a field owned by a Jebusite named Araunah, where David builds an altar to stay a plague. Israel had been numbered in pride, and seventy thousand died; David, who insisted on counting his strength, learns that he cannot manage the wrath he has loosed. He buys the threshing floor and the oxen at full price, refusing to offer to the LORD that which costs him nothing, and there the angel sheathes his sword. It is a sober ending to a reign: the shepherd-king, chastened, kneeling on ground that will one day hold Solomon’s temple.
Then the narrative turns, and 1 Kings opens in a hushed palace chamber. David is old and cannot get warm; Adonijah, his handsome eldest surviving son, exalts himself, “I will be king,” and gathers chariots and fifty runners. But Bathsheba and Nathan and Zadok and Benaiah move quietly, and Solomon is anointed king at Gihon while Adonijah’s feast scatters in fear. David’s final charge to Solomon is plain: keep the charge of the LORD thy God, walk in His ways. Then the old king sleeps with his fathers, and Solomon’s kingdom is established greatly.
What follows is startling. Asked in a dream at Gibeon what he would receive, Solomon confesses that he is but a little child who knows not how to go out or come in, and asks for an understanding heart to judge God’s people. God is pleased that he asked for wisdom rather than riches or the life of his enemies, and gives him both the wisdom and what he did not ask for. We watch that wisdom work in the very next scene, as two harlots bring one living child before the throne and a sword reveals the true mother’s heart.
This is late-summer reading, the long green weeks when the year’s work is mostly done and we take stock. It is a good season to ask what we are counting and what we are asking for. David counted soldiers and found only judgment; Solomon asked for a listening heart and received a kingdom at peace. The difference between the two men is not intelligence or opportunity but desire, and desire is something we bring to God every ordinary morning. He still gives generously to those who ask for the right thing.
Reflection
- Where in your life are you numbering your resources — counting money, followers, achievements — the way David counted his troops, and what would repentance look like in that place?
- If God said to you tonight, as He said to Solomon at Gibeon, “Ask what I shall give thee,” what would your honest first request be?
Prayer
Lord God of David and Solomon, we come as those who have counted what we have and found it wanting. Forgive our pride, our self-reliance, and the small kingdoms we build for ourselves. Give us, we pray, an understanding heart — wisdom to discern between good and evil, and to walk in Your ways all our days. Establish Your rule in our homes and in our hearts. Teach us to ask for what pleases You, and then to receive it with thanksgiving, for the sake of Jesus Christ our King. Amen.