{"id":34331,"date":"2025-01-22T22:00:22","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T05:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-kings-1_1-14-copy\/"},"modified":"2025-01-14T13:51:43","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T20:51:43","slug":"1-kings-1_15-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-kings-1_15-27\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Approach Jesus Your King"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 Kings 1:15-27\u00a0 (CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

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Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 Kings 1:15-27.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

1 Kings 1:15 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So Bathsheba went to see the aged king in his room, where Abishag the Shunammite was attending him.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 15:\u00a0 David was by no means a perfect man, husband, father or king, but by the way his wife Bathsheba approaches David, we can learn some important lessons on how we the church, also known as the bride of Christ, ought to approach our perfect man, husband, father and king Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

First, I wonder how odd or awkward it was for Bathsheba, now an older woman, to walk into an aging King David\u2019s room and see him with another, younger woman.\u00a0 Granted, verse 2 says that Abishag and David were not sexually intimate with one another, though they lay in the same bed together to keep an ailing David warm.\u00a0 Still, at the very least it shows how much things had changed over time between David and Bathsheba: \u00a0Bathsheba, once the most desirable woman to David, is now an older woman and David is not the virile man he used to be.\u00a0\u00a0Thankfully, when we approach our King and husband Jesus, we approach One who never changes and never ages.<\/strong>\u00a0 Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.\u00a0 He is just as strong and passionate for us on day 1 of us meeting as on day 20,000.<\/p>\n

1 Kings 1:16 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Bathsheba bowed low and knelt before the king.\u00a0“What is it you want?” the king asked.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 16: \u00a0Just as Bathsheba bowed low and knelt before the king (v16), we are to come before our King with reverence, honour and humility.\u00a0 Just as Bathsheba boldly approached the king, so we can approach Jesus\u2019 throne of grace with confidence and receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (see Hebrews 4:16). \u00a0Bathsheba\u2019s simultaneous humility and confidence before David reminds me that\u00a0approaching our King Jesus is about having reverence in one hand and confidence in the other<\/strong>.\u00a0 What kind of confidence?\u00a0 Not confidence in our own merit, but confidence in who Jesus is and who we are \u2013 i.e. blameless, accepted, forgiven, included, loved, and valued \u2013 because of Him.
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\n1 Kings 1:17 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0She said to him, “My lord, you yourself swore to me your servant by the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God: ‘Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne.’<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 17:\u00a0 Just as Bathsheba approached the king on the basis of a promise that the king had spoken, so\u00a0we approach our King Jesus on the basis of promises He has spoken<\/strong>.\u00a0 What promises?\u00a0 There are many \u2013 for example, the promise that He is for us and not against us and will not count our sins against us, the promise that we can come to Him in our weariness and find rest in His presence, the promise that in all things He works for our good and for His glory.\u00a0 When you approach your King, remember His promises.<\/p>\n

1 Kings 1:18-19 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But now Adonijah has become king, and you, my lord the king, do not know about it.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He has sacrificed great numbers of cattle, fattened calves, and sheep, and has invited all the king’s sons, Abiathar the priest and Joab the commander of the army, but he has not invited Solomon your servant.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 18-19:\u00a0 Whereas Bathsheba and Nathan would approach David on the basis that David did not have full knowledge of what Adonijah had done, we can approach our King Jesus knowing that He knows and sees everything.\u00a0 When we tell Him our situation, it\u2019s not because He doesn\u2019t already know, but rather it helps us get something off our chest.\u00a0\u00a0When you approach your King Jesus, you approach the One who knows and understands you perfectly.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1 Kings 1:20-21 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0My lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, to learn from you who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Otherwise, as soon as my lord the king is laid to rest with his fathers, I and my son Solomon will be treated as criminals.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 20-21:\u00a0 Just as Bathsheba expressed how all of Israel\u2019s eyes were on David to do the right thing, so we come to Jesus our King, placing our hope in Him to always do the right thing.<\/p>\n

1 Kings 1:22-27 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet arrived.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And they told the king, “Nathan the prophet is here.” So he went before the king and bowed with his face to the ground.
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Nathan said, “Have you, my lord the king, declared that Adonijah shall be king after you, and that he will sit on your throne?
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Today he has gone down and sacrificed great numbers of cattle, fattened calves, and sheep. He has invited all the king’s sons, the commanders of the army and Abiathar the priest. Right now they are eating and drinking with him and saying, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But me your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon he did not invite.
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Is this something my lord the king has done without letting his servants know who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 22-27:\u00a0 From Bathsheba in verses 15-21, I learn a number of lessons on how we ought to approach our perfect king Jesus.\u00a0 In contrast, from Nathan in verses 22-27, I learn a number of lessons on how we ought to approach our human leaders who are not perfect.\u00a0 Keep this in mind: if there\u2019s anyone who knew David\u2019s flaws and imperfections, it was Nathan.\u00a0 Nathan was the one who had to confront David regarding his affair with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah.\u00a0 Yet what impresses me about Nathan here is that, despite knowing all of David\u2019s flaws, Nathan still treats his imperfect leader and king with incredible honour and respect.\u00a0 For example:
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When approaching David, Nathan the man of God bows down before David with his face to the ground (v23).
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When talking with David, Nathan repeatedly refers to David as \u201cmy lord the king\u201d and refers to himself as \u201cyour servant\u201d (v24, 26-27).
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Rather than coming to David with an accusatory, pre-judging attitude, Nathan asks questions to make sure he first understands his leader\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n

Likewise,\u00a0I believe it glorifies God, blesses others and reflects well on you when you treat your human leaders \u2013 imperfect as they are \u2013 with honour and respect.\u00a0 We do this not to kiss up to them.\u00a0 Rather, we do this to honour God, to practice humility, and to love people well.<\/strong>\u00a0 No human leader is perfect, but like Nathan, may you not let people\u2019s imperfections keep you from treating them as God would have you treat them.\u00a0 How you treat the human leaders in your life will impact on how others treat you.<\/p>\n

Jesus, my lord the king, You are the only unchanging One, the One who is faithful in every way, and whose passion and power never wane.\u00a0 Thank You that by Your great and precious promises I can approach You with confidence and find in You all the help, wisdom, peace, rest and strength that I need.\u00a0 May I treat You and those around me with the kind of humility that honours You.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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opyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 1 Kings 1:1-14.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the\u00a0GAME\u00a0sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!\u00a0<\/p>\n

1\u00a0Kings\u00a01:1-4 (NIV)\u00a0
\n1\u00a0When King David was old and well advanced in years, he could not keep warm even when they put covers over him.\u00a0
\n2\u00a0So his servants said to him, “Let us look for a young virgin to attend the king and take care of him. She can lie beside him so that our lord the king may keep warm.”\u00a0
\n3\u00a0Then they searched throughout Israel for a beautiful girl and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king.\u00a0
\n4\u00a0The girl was very beautiful; she took care of the king and waited on him, but the king had no intimate relations with her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On verses\u00a01-4:\u00a0 By this\u00a0time\u00a0King David is almost 70 years old and is not in good health.\u00a0 To help keep him warm, they find a beautiful girl called Abishag to lie beside him and to serve him as his nurse, but not to have sexual relations with him.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34333,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34331"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34334,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34331\/revisions\/34334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}