All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

2 Timothy 2:16

We three kings of Orient are…oh, wait, though it is the time of year to be preparing adult and children’s Christmas musicals, I’m talking about three different kings.

This week I’ve prepared a series of devotions around three kings whose stories are both incredibly inspiring and fearfully frustrating.

Can you guess who they are? What if I told you they were the first three kings of Israel?

Yep. Saul, David, and Solomon.

Sweet friend, before we dig into the lessons we can learn from each of these men, let us first recall that God did not want Israel to have a human king (I Samuel 8:6-9).

God had always been and always intended to be their only King; just as He intends to be the only King of our hearts today (Isaiah 9:6-7; Matt. 6:33; John 18:36-37; Ephesians 1:21-22).

In fact, when the people rose up against the Lord’s prophet Samuel and cried out for a king, Samuel delivered God’s words of warning to them about the corruption of a human king and the generations of pain and sorrow it would bring, but they insisted on having their own way (I Samuel 8:10-21).

After Saul, David, and Solomon, we see a thread of “and the Lord’s anger was provoked” and “so-and-so was worse than the king before him” throughout the histories. We can see a prime example in 1 Kings 16 as a series of kings are discussed and we see that many of them “followed the example” of the one before and led the people to sin against God. The chapter ends with the introduction of Ahab son of Omri who the Bible tells us “did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, even more than any of the kings before him” (1 Kings 16:30). The Message Bible puts it like this, “Ahab son of Omri did even more open evil before God than anyone yet—a new champion in evil!”. The people’s insistence on having a human king led to a fracturing of the kingdom, to wars and strife and struggle, to oppression and ultimately to being overtaken.

Oh dear heart, if only the Israelites could have seen what their rejection of God as their King would bring! If they had only known what evil would befall them by wanting what other nations had, by following their own desires! Surely, they would have chosen differently!?

And yet… I must also yield to the voice of the Holy Spirit as He says to me, “Precious child, you have the benefit of knowing the entire history of God’s chosen people and still, how often do you do the same? How often do you choose your own way? How many times have you rejected God’s leadership to follow someone or something else?”.

Ouch. Anyone else have sore toes? Just me? I’m betting not.

Beloved, as we examine the lives of Saul, David, and Solomon and the lessons we can learn from them this week, may we bear in mind that we are not so different from the generations before us. We have history and hindsight from which to learn, but we are often just as wayward in our thinking, just as quick to follow our own path or seek out another person to follow. This week may we cry out to God for wisdom as we study these three kings; may we seek to apply what we learn from history to our own walk with Him!