READING FOR JUNE 30, 2025: 1 KINGS 3, COLOSSIANS 1, PSALM 61 1 KINGS 3 One of Solomon’s first acts was to marry the daughter of Egypt’s Pharoah. This kind of act was not unusual, even up to the twentieth century, as a gesture to help cement alliances between nations and keep the peace. As we saw with World War 1 and all of Queen Victoria’s matchmaking beforehand, it didn’t always work. In the end Solomon’s desire for foreign wives who were not believers in the one true God, eventually led to his downfall. Centuries later Nehemiah pleaded with the returning exiles not to make the same mistake: “Did Solomon the king of Israel not sin regarding these things? Yet among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; yet the foreign women caused even him to sin” (Neh. 13:26). A current application for us today is for Christians not to marry non-Christians: “Do not be mismatched with unbelievers; for what do righteousness and lawlessness share together, or what does light have in common with darkness? (2 Cor. 6:14).
Notice that when Solomon was largely walking with the Lord, he asked for wisdom. God was eager to give him what he desired. This is a great principle for us. When we are walking with the Lord, our desires always align with God’s will: “Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4). In these cases, God is actually pleased when we ask Him for what we desire. He doesn’t just grudgingly grant our requests. What are we asking God for?
We see God’s gift of wisdom was needed immediately. Leaders always need God’s wisdom because their every decision affects many. Two prostitutes came in front of him. First of all, consider how unusual that the king of a mighty country would allow such a case to be brought before him. This alone shows the wisdom and humility of Solomon by not blowing it off. Then he listened very carefully to each woman. He did not just dominate the conversation by brag- ging about his greatness. The king summarized their statements and took dramatic action that forced the truth to the surface. That action revealed that the King had a God-given under- standing how the real mother of the living son would react to his execution. She would rather lose her son to a deceitful woman than see him killed. How great is God’s love for us that the Father gave His only son to die so that we, His enemies, could be saved from sin and death.
COLOSSIANS 1 Paul explicitly informs the Colossians he is praying for them constantly. This suggests that telling people we are praying for them is good practice (if we are praying). Word of their faith had traveled to Paul. What is the word on the street about our church? We can check to see if we have any recent reviews: (4) Yorktown Methodist Church | Facebook. What did Paul say was central to the Colossi church and the key to growth of the Christian movement worldwide? “The gospel, which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard it and understood the grace of
READING FOR JUNE 30, 2025 CONTINUED: COLOSSIANS 1, PSALM 61 God in truth” (Col. 1: 5-6). Again, Paul didn’t say that loud music, hip young pastors, or cultural assimilation brings the increase. It is the Gospel that is accurately expressed and understood by its hearers. Do we understand the Gospel well enough to share it?
If we are rusty in understanding the Gospel, verses 13-23 explain Jesus’s and our role in it:
- We are born in a hostile position to God: (“alienated and hostile in attitude, engaged in evil deeds”).
- But Jesus came to earth to rescue us: (“He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins”)
- Jesus then paid the price by His death on the cross for our sins: (“He has now reconciled you in His body of flesh through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless”).
- We receive and continue in this free gift of grace through faith (“if in: deed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast and not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you have heard”).
PSALM 61 How easy it is to fall into a mindless pattern of prayer. Here David boldly raised the stakes for himself by asking the almighty God to listen and focus on his prayer. Prayer is the highest-stakes activity imaginable. Even so, David knows he can pray even when he senses distance from home and weakness in spirit. What a precious resource such prayer is. David knows that man alone, even a king such as himself, is not sufficient to cope with life. He needs a rock that is higher than himself. David has thus made the permanent commitment to find his protection and meaning in submitting to God’s sovereignty. Wise King.
David reaffirms these previous commitments to God and recalls the blessings that have flowed from them while anticipating future ones. His comment about sitting enthroned before God forever is fully fleshed out by Paul many centuries later: “[God] raised us up with Him [Jesus], and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6).
