II Samuel-I Kings

I've had two cups of coffee already this morning, and it is going to be a hot day outside, so I'll get to writing something down.  Here are a few interesting thoughts that came to me today: 1) TO TARRY MEANS TROUBLE-- It's funny how you read something over and over and never tie it together, but today, it came together.  In II Samuel 20:4, King David said to Amasa, (used to be Absalom's general, but now has been promised to be the general in Joab's stead), "Assemble me the men of Judah within three days, and be thou here present."   But... according to verse 5, "he tarried longer than the set time."  He Tarried!! Because of this, Joab's brother, Abishai, was told to take the men present and go after Sheba, the enemy.  And he takes Joab's men and goes after Sheba while Amasa tarries. With this as the context, Amasa finally shows up after they are on the trail of the enemy, and this is what happens:  Joab walks up to Amasa and says "Art thou in health, my brother?" And while he gets close to Amasa he sticks his sword into his ribs and Joab kills Amasa.  What Joab was thinking was perhaps: "You were told by the king to do something and you are taking your own good time about it, so here's what you deserve!"  Well, I'm reading that into it, but I think the moral of it all is "Don't Be Late!". 2) I WAS DISTRESSED.... AND GOD DELIVERED ME!  II Sam. 22:7,18  In verse 7 David says "In my distressed I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple,"  And verse 8 says God was "wroth", verse 10 says God "came down", verse 14 says "The LORD thundered from heaven, and the most High uttered his voice."  and finally in verse 18: "He delievered me from my strong enemy,"  David was distressed, but God delivered him!!  The whole chapter is a great one to read over and over.  I have about 5 notes on this one chapter, it's great! 3) DAVID'S ADVICE TO SOLOMON- I Kings 2:2- "shew thyself a man".  I like this!  How we need more men to act like men. 4) LARGENESS OF HEART- I Kings 4:29 "And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart.."  It doesn't matter how smart and wise you are if you don't care.  Solomon had largeness of heart to care about others, and he did!  We need God's wisdom, but we also need God to enlarge our hearts! 5) PREMANUFACTURED BUILDING- That's right, the Bible had the first premanufactured building, and it was Solomon's temple!!  In I Kings 6:7 it says: "neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building."  It was all made to specifications in the field, many, many miles away and just assembled on the temple site. 6) FOOLISH COMES FROM WISDOM- What do I mean by that?  Well, Solomon was the wisest man ever, but his son, Rehoboam must have been the dumbest ever!  He was left with 5 billion in wealth and a strong kingdom.  In less than five years, the kingdom is split and he has two out of twelve tribes to rule and Shishak, king of Egypt stole all of his wealth, all in five years!!  How do you blow it that bad??  Dumb! Dumb! Dumb!   Well, that's all for today.  Have a great day and praise the Lord for His goodness!  Pastor Mike Mutchler