"Oh, I Just Can't Wait to be King!"

The song Simba sings in the Lion King testifies that he is ready for the privileges that come with being a King.  I wonder if the young cub realized the amount of responsibility that also came with being a king. This past week was spent looking at 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles analyzing the kings that reigned during the United Kingdom and the Divided Kingdom of Israel. The Kingdom era came right after the time Israel was ruled by Judges. The Kingdom era can divided into the United Kingdom and the Divided Kingdom. The United Kingdom lasted 120 years and the Divided Kingdom lasted 400 years.

During the Judges period Israel began to see that everyone around them had a king to rule them. Israel decided they wanted to be like their neighbors. They demanded a king. Moses back in Deuteronomy 17 predicted Israel would one day demand a king. The last judge, Samuel, was also the first prophet and he warned them that a king would take their daughters for cooks, take a tenth of their land, and take their best servants to be his servants. Nevertheless they refused to listen. 1 Samuel 8:7 says, “The LORD said to Samuel, ‘Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them’” (NASB). Samuel listened to the Lord and appointed Saul as the first king of the United Kingdom. Saul reigned for 40 years and is described as having “no heart for God”. Samuel would give him instructions from the Lord and Saul would partially obey. Partial obedience is disobedience. For disobeying His commands, the Lord removed the kingdom from him. 
Samuel was called to anoint the next king from the sons of Jesse. Samuel went out to the family of Jesse and saw the oldest son and thought surely he looked like a king. The Lord reminded Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for mans looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” 1 Samuel 16:7 (NASB). After going through seven of Jesse’s sons, Samuel had still not anointed one. Jesse then called David in from the fields, where he was tending sheep, and he was chosen to be the next king. Interestingly enough David was about 15 at the time and he didn’t become king until he was 30. David had great faith and patience at a young age. David reigned as king for 40 years and he had a whole heart for God. God called David a man after his own heart. However David was an adulterer and a murderer. This shows that God can use anyone who is willing to follow him.

The last ruler of the United Kingdom was Solomon, David’s son. Solomon is described as having a “half heart for God”. God commanded him to build the Temple and also used him to write two books of the Bible. His decline in faith was to due to his love for material possessions, military power, and women. He eventually turned his heart from God. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines, in total 1000! They turned his heart away to their foreign gods. So the Lord said to him, “Because you have done this and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you…” 1 Kings 11:11 (NASB).

After Solomon died his son, Rehoboam, took the throne. He was advised to rule less harshly than his father and in doing so guaranteed the loyalty from his people. However Rehoboam foolishly decided to establish a reign harsher than his father’s. This caused a split in the kingdom and thus the Northern and the Southern kingdoms are born. Rehoboam ruled the Southern kingdom which was called Judah and was made up of two tribes: Judah and Benjamin. The capital of Judah was Jerusalem. Judah had 20 kings and about eight of them were righteous.

The Northern Kingdom elected Jeroboam as king. The Northern Kingdom was called Israel. It consisted of the other 10 tribes. Israel had 19 kings and none were righteous. The capital of Israel was Samaria.

The end of the Divided Kingdom period came about when Assyria captured the Northern Kingdom and scattered the people. Also when Babylon, who had just conquered Assyria, came and captured the Southern Kingdom and took them into captivity. Then began the Exile era.

One thing I have learned about leadership from the Kingdom area is listen to God and serve the people. Saul had the kingdom ripped from him because he did not listen to God. God granted Solomon wisdom beyond measure, yet because of his lack of listening skills and obedience, split the kingdom. Also Rehoboam had no consideration for the people and was forced to rule two tribes instead of twelve. Treat people as you would want to be treated should always be a rule to follow. Ultimately listen to God before you listen to people, but always be a servant to others.

"Mawaige is what bwings us together today." -Princess Bride

There’s a whole lot of love in the Abbey household. The beauty of my family is that I’ve learned how to grow closer to people in the midst of conflict. I’ve watched my parents demonstrate a marriage that I will use as a model for mine if I ever get married. Then more recently my older brother married a fabulous woman and I can’t wait to get even more pointers from them. So I wish my family were at the Kanakuk Institute? Well yes, but the reason why I say this is because we learned about marriage and relationships this past week at the Institute. As wonderful as I’ve seen marriage can be, I also see how difficult it is to mold two people’s lives into one. So after hearing a whole week of lessons on relationships and marriage here are five things I learned about marriage. 

1. Marriage is not for my own happiness. That is a lie of the world. Marriage is for the purpose of sanctification. Christ created marriage and it is to make us more like Christ. It is glimpse of the Trinity, a perfect, harmonious relationship filled with unconditional love. Our marriage needs to be covered in Christ.  

2. Don’t marry potential, marry proven. 2 Corinthians 6:14 says, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” Marriage is a covenant. The two become one flesh the Bible says. How can one flesh be separated back into two? Therefore I need to marry someone who is running after the Lord so when we meet up we can continue to run after the Lord together. 


3. Husbands and wives have different strengths and weaknesses. Husbands need to submit to their wife's strengths and protect her weaknesses. Wives submit to their husband's strengths and protect his weaknesses.  The goal is to balance each other and work together. 


4. Communication is a necessary part of marriage. Good communication takes place when we choose to make our primary goal understanding rather than being understood. Both husband and wife need to initiate conversation and listen intently. The conversations must go beyond surface level. Honesty in all areas. NO SECRETS! Yes, there will be tough conversations but working through them is way to become stronger as a couple.


5. Put your spouse before your children. Children need to see a marriage done right. Parents need to show kids how they should love and treat their future spouse. Also what it looks like to raise kids together. Never forget why you fell in love with your spouse. Take time for just the two of you, such as going on a walk, a weekend away, or a date night, because when the kids leave it's back to just you two. 


Next I decided to see what God had to say about marriages. 

In Genesis 24 Isaac marries Rebekah. One positive thing I see in this relationship is that God is sought before the relationship even begins. The servant, even though not searching for his own wife, still sees the importance in seeking God before seeking the woman for Isaac. The servant asks to take Rebekah back with him to meet Isaac. Rebekah is obedient and respectful. For me the response would have been, “Ok you bring Isaac here first to prove that he’s real and to see if we get along. I mean it is the rest of my life we are talking about!”  Rebekah trusts God that she is supposed to marry Isaac. Then Isaac also shows obedience and takes her as his wife.  Then when they realize Rebekah is barren they pray about it. They take their problems to the Lord. They eventually have two sons, twins. However there were negatives in their marriage. On a trip to Egypt Isaac lies and says Rebekah is his sister, to protect his life. The Pharaoh is not happy because he wanted to marry her. Also the Isaac and Rebekah play favorites. Esau is his father’s pride and joy and Jacob is the apple oaf his mother’s eye. God says to show no favoritism (Romans 2:11). 

So the moral of this story is to be truthful and have integrity in all situations, even when you think you are in a tough situation. Also love your kids equally. Kids are blessed with different talents and abilities, but a parent should show love to all their kids. Another lesson is pray for your spouse before you are married, even before you’ve met.  In a marriage I would want to copy Isaac and Rebekah by taking everything to God in prayer. Also they were on the same page in the obedience to marry one another. Being in agreement, in the important issues, with your spouse seems to be a essential idea.

Another marriage in the Bible is the one of Zacharias and Elizabeth in Luke 1. Luke 1:6 says, “They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord”.  I pray that if I ever get married that this verse could also be said about me and my husband. They are also a childless couple and the Lord blessed them. Elizabeth praises the Lord when she finds out she is going to have a child. Then when Zacharias and Elizabeth finally have their son they are obedient in naming him John, despite the public’s opinion to name him Zacharias. However a negative to this marriage is that Zacharias did not believe the angel when he said that Zacharias and Elizabeth would have child. Therefore Zacharias becomes mute until his son is born 


From this story, I learned that people close to you will describe and remember your marriage. A healthy, godly marriage leaves an impact. Also that the Lord is ultimately in control if you have children or not, and that could be through either pregnancy or adoption. And lastly as a couple or an individual we must trust in the Almighty God, because there are consequences for unbelief. Remember God can restore.

Fertilizer

Today was a good day in the Show Me State. This morning Karen Chancey taught us a lesson in Bible Overview. Man, we even had hand motions that went along with it. We are only in Exodus after 3 hours. Great stuff! She was helping us grow in our knowledge and hunger for the Word. The Institute is fertilizer for us. It is helping us grow closer to God by teaching us about Him and His Word. We also watched this fascinating video about how Christ is portrayed in the Passover Feast. Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVolBDlWloQ

Now it is about 35min but it taught me so much, because I knew slim, hardly anything, a half hatched goose egg, about the Jewish custom of Passover. I encourage you to watch it when you have time. I do love a good youtube video.

Then after class it was off to my campus job. Yep, I'm a working woman. Say hello to girl on the maintenance team. I do maintenance around the camp (Be proud Daddy!). I have some great bosses. One of them is named Ken. He is like the Grandfather away from home. He is always pouring Scripture into us and making some witty joke. He is a very humble man who loves to serve God. Today Kara and I got to walk a fertilizer cart around all the campus. We almost used the wrong fertilizer (I'm still learning ok!? haha). Ken picked me up on the John Deere mule and we went to correct the issue. During our ride he was talking about how he has been learning about prophecy these last few years and we discussed prophecy and people prophesying in today's time. It's going to be a great job.

Then I ended the day with a wonderful Skype conversation with some of my dearest friends, Melanie and Christine. Laughter and love are so intertwined into our conversations.



That's all for now!