Pastor John,
And all king Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver: it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon.” 1 Ki 10:21
“And the king made silver and gold at Jerusalem as plenteous as stones, and cedar trees made he as the sycomore trees that are in the vale for abundance. ” 2Ch 1:15
John, I’ve always wondered how this could have been. Silver accounted as nothing? Gold as plenteous as stones? What would it be like to live in such a day?
Today I got a little taste of that feeling, I believe.
I was cleaning out old desk papers that had piled up for months. In the stack was an email about “The rod of the wicked will not rest upon the lot of the righteous” (Ps.125:3). It was dated 12-12-2009. It was so good. In it you explained how that God’s children can be put into situations by the wicked that are too much for our faith. And so, God will not put us in situations we cannot overcome by allowing the rod in the hands of wicked men to overpower us. You gave examples of David, and it was just good, solid, trusting-God stuff.
The problem is, that I did not remember printing it out. It was valuable to me enough to print, and I vaguely remembered the topic, but I did not even know I had it in those papers in my office. Made me stop and consider.
Over time, you have given us such good food, such spiritual riches, I would say we remember a small portion, except Jesus pull it out of us at the right time from somewhere inside of us. Hopefully, the “overall” goodness of it has left it’s mark and influence. We have “gold” in abundance. And even our “silver”, which would be of great value to children of God out there without gold, well, we just have too much gold to value the silver that much, I guess!
I thank the Lord for what we DO have. Jesus, keep letting us take it in for living, and may we protect it and pass it on. It’s gold. Thanks for all the manna you have fed us, John. Who knows how many times it has influenced the things in my life that I think and do. I really felt an appreciation for it today.
Gary