1 King 1-6

"'Now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?'"

When God said to Solomon, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you", he asked just for one thing: wisdom. And the bible says, because Solomon answered in this way, God was very pleased with the answer and promised Solomon all the things he did not even ask for: riches and honor.

I am reminded, again, how God's command is so simple, and how we are the one that complicate it. If we just come before God, humble ourselves like Solomon did, and just simply ask for God's wisdom, I believe God will take care of all the details in our lives.

Yes, life is complicated. So many things have happened in the past, so many things going on at the present, and so many uncertainties in the future. That goes for all of us. Sometimes we become prideful and think that we are in some special circumstance that no one can understand. Haven't we all thought at one point or another that we are in the worst situation ever?

The lesson I learned from Solomon is this. He did realize that life is complicated (He was put in charge of the whole nation of Israel! That should give him endless things to think about.), so he knew that the best thing he can ask for is the wisdom of God.

God knows all things. (We need to truly believe that.) I'm not so sure that we need to tell God and ask God about every little details in our lives. He knows even things that we are not aware of. I believe all God wants us to do is simply to come before him and ask for his wisdom. Do not doubt or limit God in what he can do. We must be willing to be used by God. (That's the hard part. We all have so many ideas, attitudes, and things we are not willing let go of.) If we would only do that (by the power of the Holy Spirit) God will take care of everything in our lives. Not only that, he will bless us with things we did not even ask for.

What a promise we have in God! Let's rejoice in him this day:)

Ecclesiastes 10-12; Song of Songs 1

"Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, 'I find no pleasure in them.'

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, whether it is good or evil."

Many scholars believe that Solomon wrote this book. And this was his conclusion about life. He had everything a man desires - wealth, power, fame, and wisdom. Yet after examining his own and others' life, he concluded that men should fear God and obey his commandments because everyone will be judged according to his or her deeds.

I examine my own life and there are areas where I have not been obedient and faithful to God. One of them is interceding for others. I know God wants me to pray for many people in life, but I have stopped praying because I felt like it's not making any difference. But I know that my attitude is wrong. I don't have to worry about whether my prayers get answers or not because God is going to take care of that. I just need to be faithful and obedient in everything God has called me to do. So yes, I will start interceding for people from this day.

Thinking about God's judgment is serious, yet on the other hand, it is very comforting because we know that we will spend eternity with God. And that is the blessed hope we have in Christ. How wonderful that would be...

Praise God for he is our creator and judge!
Let us be obedient and faithful to everything he has called us to do and rejoice in our hope of eternal life!

2 Samuel 22-24

"The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock!
Exalted be God, the Rock, my savior!
He is the God who avenges me,
who puts the nations under me,
who sets me free from my enemies.
You exalted me above my foes;
from violent men you rescued me.
Therefore I will praise you,
O Lord, among the nations;
I will sing praises to your name."

This is an excerpt from David's song when God delivered him from all his enemies. We've been talking these days about how there are so many things we say or do when we are at church (where the presence of the Lord is more apparent), but how it's so hard to apply that to our daily lives, both to our own life and, also, how we relate to others. The above song is a good example. We sing songs like that all the time? How God lives and he is our Rock, our savior. How he sets us free from our enemies. Are we living today as though God is living and active? Do we truly see him as our Rock, and does that fact bring peace to our ever so tumultuous hearts? And do we believe that in God we can be freed from all our enemies?

I am reminded this day that the message of the bible is so simple. It pretty much just calls for us to look to Jesus in all things. It is us that take this simple instruction and complicate it beyond recognition. Jesus did say, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." So simple...

Let's take Jesus at his word this day. And remember that by us dwelling on our past failures, feelings of hopelessness, or even doubting our worth to God, does not bring us closer to God. We have this tendency to figure our problems out on our own. We think that we can somehow make ourselves a bit more presentable to God by working out some of the problems ourselves. But I believe when we do that, we'll just be looking deeper and deeper into ourselves, and all we'll find is even more ugliness that will further depress us. Let's remember this day that Jesus alone is our righteousness. And let's make a choice to look to him, so we can be in the full comfort of his "rest":)

Ecclesiastes 3-7

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven... He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end."

This is a familiar verse to us. We should finish designing the card :)

Once again, I am reminded of God's sovereignty. If we consider how things in nature seem to fall in place and happen at a proper time, we could see God is in control. Even thinking about the galaxy, we can't even fathom what it is yet God is the one who is holding everything in place. If God is mindful of the nature and galaxy, how much more he would care for us?

I think we often forget that God desires the highest good for us. And that he is always with us to lead and guide us. Things may seem they are not going our way at the moment, but God is at work in our life and he will bring it to completion and make it "beautiful in its time". We just need to be still and trust in God until then.

2 Samuel 16-18

"As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the same clan as Saul's family came out from there. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and he cursed as he came out. He pelted David and all the king's officials with stones, through all the troops and the special guard were on David's right and left. As he cursed, Shimei said, 'Get out, get out, you man of blood, you scoundrel! The LORD has repaid you for all the blood you shed in the household of Saul, in whose place you have reigned. the LORD has handed the kingdom over to your son Absalom. You have come to ruin because you are a man of blood!'

Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, 'Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head.'

But the king said, 'What do you and I have in common, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the LORD said to him, 'Curse David,' who can ask, 'Why do you do this?'"

Reading the account of how David responded to Shimei's lies truly humbled me this morning. Any way I look at it, if I was in David's position, I would be way too proud to respond the way he did.

David was a shepherd, and now he is king. He knew that it was God and God alone that blessed him. David had a true heart of humility. But how often do we, after God has blessed us (good job, good relationship, etc.) take that blessing and make it a source of our pride? We talked about this before how it is easier for us to talk to other people when we are doing well in the eyes of the world. Because we feel as though we have some authority. We enjoy thinking that we are better. It's our nature. That's why I think we are so quick to judge others (isn't it funny how we often judge the pride of others, while we suffer from the same exact thing?). We so often take God's blessing and make it a source of our confidence.

Let's ask God for a heart of humility this day. We are always humbled when God reminds us of who he is. David knew that God is sovereign in all things. This made him humble. To him, God was his confidence. He did not dare judge others or think himself better than them. His humility was such that it caused him to love those that were out to kill him (Saul and his son Absalom).

And let's, also, remember that humility does not make us pathetic. Just as God brought David from being a lowly shepherd to a highly respected king of Israel, if we humble ourselves before God and others, God can accomplish great things in our lives:)

Proverbs 24-27

"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

I thought about the people in my life - my family, friends, brothers and sisters at church, you, etc. - and those who are not. Some people, like friends, we get to choose, but others, like family, we don't get to choose. We need to be wise in choosing our friends, because they always influence us in many ways. Every relationship we have should center around Christ.

I realized how I complain a lot, mostly inwardly, about people in my life, especially my family. And God is telling me that I should not be doing that. There are so many orphans and lonely people in this world, yet God is gracious to me and has given me family and friends.

Seriously speaking, if we always get along with everyone, our characters will never develop. We need each other to mature in our character and faith. Let us thank God this day for everyone in our life and show appreciation to them for they are gifts from God. And let us do our best to reach out to those who are in need. Finally, let us praise God for we have one another.