He
layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous (Prov 2:7)
Interacting With: The Lord: Proverbs 25:1-3
1) These [are] also proverbs
of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out.
2) [It is] the glory of God
to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings [is] to search out a matter.
3) The heaven for height, and the earth for depth, and the heart of
kings [is] unsearchable.
Solomon
now shares with us teachings on how to interact in others in many, various walks
of life…
EXPOSITION:
1) These [are] also proverbs
of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out.
Solomon
reaffirms for us the authorship of this section of Scripture…
1. These Proverbs come originally from Solomon
who was led by the Spirit of the Lord.
2. These Proverbs, approx. 200 years later, are
rewritten by men who had been commissioned by King Hezekiah.
Here,
we can see several important points for us to consider:
1. Proverbs through a King. Helping us to recognize the great authority behind
these Proverbs. They originated with the
King of Kings and Lord of Lords and were handed down through the highest authority
in the land of Israel. Although, the
Israelites did not see the Lord give these Proverbs, unlike the Ten Commandments,
the Lord used the highest human authority possible to reveal His Word to them.
Illustrating the great authority that they possess.
2. The great value of these Proverbs, was
recognized by the highest authority in the land of Israel. This is why, over two hundred years later,
King Hezekiah saw the need to have them copied down for his own use and those
who would follow him.
“The proverbs of Solomon the son of David,
king of Israel;” (Proverbs 1:1)
2) [It is] the glory of God
to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings [is] to search out a matter.
1. God acts independently and answers to no
one. It is to the praise and honor of
the Lord, for Him to keep His counsel and motives covered and unknowable by
man.
2. However, human kings answer to the Lord for
their decisions. Therefore, it brings praise
and honor to them to not act independently, but to seek out God’s will for
their decisions through His Word and the Godly counselors around them.
Instead
of making decisions on their own, earthly kings should interact with the Lord
by seeking counsel from Him. They should
recognize it is not within them to make proper decisions but will only be
through the gracious intervention of the Lord in their lives. Their willingness to submit to the perfect counsel
of the All-knowing God brings praise and honor to them.
“In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a
dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said, Thou
hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he
walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart
with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given
him a son to sit on his throne, as [it is] this day. And now, O LORD my God,
thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I [am but] a
little child: I know not [how] to go out or come in. And thy servant [is] in
the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be
numbered nor counted for multitude. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people,
that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so
great a people? And the speech pleased the
Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not
asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast
asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to
discern judgment; Behold, I have done
according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding
heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall
any arise like unto thee.” (1 Kings 3:5-12)
3) The heaven for height, and the earth for depth, and the heart of
kings [is] unsearchable.
Three
things cannot be found out by humans…
1. The height of the heavens
2. The depth of the earth
3. The king’s heart (his motives, plans)
The
motives and plans made by a King are very rarely revealed to others. They understand that, to be an effective
leader, many times they must reveal their intent very slowly to their
people. Only revealing their plans when
the people’s trust in them has grown and they are ready to accept and agree
with them. Also, if they reveal too much
of their plans, it will be inevitable that their enemies will find out overcome
them.
Please
note vs 2 and 3 do not contradict themselves.
Although the human king should not, and cannot, hide their plans from
the Lord, they have every right to use their discretion in revealing their
plans to those they rule over. The issue
is not whether the King SHOULD OR SHOULD NOT reveal their plans, it is TO WHOM
are they obligated to reveal their plans.
“For my thoughts [are] not
your thoughts, neither [are] your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For [as] the heavens are
higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts
than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh
down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the
earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower,
and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that
goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall
accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I
sent it.” (Isaiah 55:8-11)
SUMMARY:
When
it comes to human kings interacting with the Lord we find three basic
principles:
1. They are to look to the Lord for guidance and
direction in their planning.
2. They are obligated to be in willful
submission to the Lord’s will and be willingly transparent before Him.
3. They are not obligated to reveal all their plans
to their subjects. They are to only
reveal plans when the revelation of them will not aid their enemies and when
the subjects have hearts prepared to accept them.
May
we all possess Godly wisdom and live our lives for Him.
By
God’s grace, let us all study these proverbs diligently, giving them the value
that they deserve.
May the
Lord bless us as we receive this sound wisdom and then “Think On These Things”.
SIH Homepage: http://www.settledinheaven.org
SIH
Text Blog: http://settledinheaven.wordpress.com/all-about-salvation/
SIH
Video Blog: http://youtube.com/settledinheaven/
SIH
Email: settledinheaven@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment