ESOCS Devotional 22 April 2025 – True Builders Don’t Destroy Their Work
MEMORY VERSE: “The real mother, her heart full of love for her son, said to the King, please your majesty, don’t kill the child! Give it to her! But the other women said, “Don’t give it to either of us, go on and cut it into two.” 1 Kings 3:26 GNV
TEXT: 1 KINGS 3:15-28
Then Solomon awoke; and indeed it had been a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.
16 Now two women who were harlots came to the king, and stood before him. 17 And one woman said, “O my lord, this woman and I dwell in the same house; and I gave birth while she was in the house. 18 Then it happened, the third day after I had given birth, that this woman also gave birth. And we were together; [a]no one was with us in the house, except the two of us in the house. 19 And this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. 20 So she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from my side, while your maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. 21 And when I rose in the morning to nurse my son, there he was, dead. But when I had examined him in the morning, indeed, he was not my son whom I had borne.”
22 Then the other woman said, “No! But the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.”
And the first woman said, “No! But the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.”
Thus they spoke before the king.
23 And the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son, who lives, and your son is the dead one’; and the other says, ‘No! But your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’ ” 24 Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. 25 And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to one, and half to the other.”
26 Then the woman whose son was living spoke to the king, for she yearned with compassion for her son; and she said, “O my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him!”
But the other said, “Let him be neither mine nor yours, but divide him.”
27 So the king answered and said, “Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him; she is his mother.”
28 And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had rendered; and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.
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It is a sweet experience to have the capacity to take right and just decision in life. Many people who are leaders lack the wisdom to lead people to pleasure. That is what Nigeria is suffering today. Our leaders are not getting it right and the country is in difficulty. Many married couples have more children and some cannot help it. Even in the missionary work, it is not every evangelist that calls people into Christ and not many apostles can build their followers’ spiritual lives to yield good result. But in our text today, Solomon after praying had an encounter with God in a dream. In appreciation, Solomon hosted his officials to a feast and offered sacrifices to God. Those who show gratitude to God experience full manifestation of God’s promises (1 Kings 3:15).
It takes great insight powered by the gift of God to discern the truth from a master liar. God, through the struggle for ownership of a living child by two prostitutes proved that Solomon had been truly blessed with the wisdom to rule Israel with justice (1 Kings 3:9, 12). The woman who knew that the child was not her own, opted for the killing of the living child (1 Kings 3:16-27).
Those who take pains to build the spiritual life of members will never initiate the process of frustrating them in the Church. Those who prayed for the upliftment of the Church will never be part of those who will refuse to contribute to its sustenance. When you see a person determined in such evil that can lead to downfall, know that such person is sure he has nothing at stake. They know that they do not have any share in the Kingdom of God and so the progress of the Church means nothing to them.
Let us therefore get it right and support the progress of the Church, family and our society.
CHALLENGES
- How do you feel when you see or hear threat of destruction of what you laboured for?
PRAYER POINT
- Father, give me the grace to witness the wellbeing of all that I have laboured to build, in Jesus name. Amen.
FURTHER READING: 1 Kings 4:1-25; 1 Corinthians 7:14-40
ESOCS Devotional 22 April 2025
