LIVING WATER CAC DAILY DEVOTIONAL GUIDE
Saturday, July 15, 2023.
World Youth Skill Day
TOPIC: WISDOM IS PRINCIPAL
Read: 1 Kings 3:16-28
[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; 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.
MEMORISE: Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding (Proverbs 4:7).
EXPOSITION
Judges have at one time or the other been confused by the witnesses brought by the accused person's lawyers, so much that they think in such lawyers' directions to give judgements in favour of the accused person. Thus, while the offender walks freely on the street, the innocent languish in prison. No wonder some cases tarry for so long!
The Living Water dose of today exposes the craftiness but foolishness of a woman who didn't care if the child she claimed was her own died, but wisdom which the Bible says is the principal thing (Prov. 4:7) came to the rescue.
King Solomon was adjudged the wisest of his days. This is evident in the way he adjudicated in the matter of those two women mentioned in our text. It is almost normal for every man to speak in his own favour, even when he knows he is guilty of an offence, and so, this has made judges who are not wise enough to wrongfully condemn the innocent against the accused. Let us not be in haste to judge any matter, for, in our patience, the real truth is revealed.
Leaders of homes, businesses, communities, churches and government should go the extra mile to seek God's face to be wiser than others, else, they may be working to arouse God's anger. They should be filled with Holy Spirit, and especially, the discerning Spirit to detect fake from the original. Many believers have drifted away into ungodliness because it was presented to them as real and they couldn't discern it.
Wisdom is profitable to direct (Eccl. 10:10).
Take that as our charge for this year's World Youth Skills Day.
SUGGESTED HYMN FOR TODAY: CAC GHB 469
1. The Spirit breathes upon the word,
And brings the truth to sight;
Precepts and promises afford
A sanctifying light.
2. A glory glids the sacred page,
Majestic, like the sun:
It gives a light to every age;
It gives, but borrows none.
3. The hand that gave it shall supplies
The gracious light and heat;
His truths upon the nations rise;
They rise, but never set.
4. Let everlasting thanks be Thine
For such a bright display
As makes a world of darkness shine
With beams of heav'nly day.
5. My soul rejoices to pursue
The steps of Him I love,
Till glory breaks upon my view
In brighter worlds above.
Amen.
PRAYER POINTS:
1. O Lord, heal me of my foolishness today!
2. Lord, I need wisdom, knowledge and understanding. Fill me up now!
3. Father Lord, help gospel ministers to detect infiltrators who are really wolves among the sheep of the Lord.
EXTRA READING FOR TODAY: Psalms 118:10-119:40
