4th January 2010

Today's quiet time was about Guidance for me. I think a good question was raised, which I probably thought of asking at times but didn't bother finding out further, which is "When is the time to seek God's guidance?" The story quoted was from 1 Kings 1:49-51:

"All of Adonijah's guests jumped up in panic from the banquet table and quickly scattered. Adonijah was afraid of Solomon, so he ryshed to the sacred tent and grabbed on to the horns of the altar. Word soon reached Solomon that Adonijah had seized the horns of the altar in fear, and that he was pleading, "Let King Solomon swear today that he will not kill me!"

After reading the commentary of the book and did some further thinking, I sort of came out with 3 points regarding this:

1. This is the main point of the verse I think, as it was mentioned in the book.

Sometimes it takes getting caught before someone is willing to give up a scheme. When Adonijah learned that his plans to gain the throne after King David were doomed to fail, he ran in panic to the altar, the place of God's mercy and forgiveness. He went there, however, after his treasonous plans had been exposed. If Adonijah had first considered what God wanted, he might have avoided trouble.

Don't wait until you have made a mess of your life to run to God. Make it a point this year to seek God's guidance before you act.

I think it's quite true that most of us went through times when we didn't seek God's advise/guidance before proceed on doing our work. Perhaps we have set aside things which we allow God to take charge of and things which we don't want God to interfere with. And this is not right, as we should surrender every aspect of our lives to Him. As a result of the incorrect mindset, we might end up in misery and it is not until that time that we start crying out to God and seeking help. Hence, it's important to put trust in God, knowing that he has good plans for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us.

2. This story also helped me recall something which I thought of yesterday during the sharing time at CF's place about Job. I remember there was this question asked, "Do you just love the possessions which God has given to you or do you really love God Himself?" The way Adonijah acted seemed to me like he only thought of going to God when troubles were near him, when he was afraid that Solomon might kill him. (I'm not so sure about this part, as I didn't seek any other commentaries. So Steph, leave a comment if you have more things to say about this yea, thanks!)

In a nutshell, the reading today helped me to come to think that "after realising our mistakes of not following God's ways from the beginning, true repentance is essential rather than just asking God to help us clean up the mess."

3. Also, from the verse quoted above, it was written that "Adonijah was afraid of Solomon..." Instead of fearing God, Adonijah feared Solomon. Again, this presented to me a "distorted" mindset of Adonijah. As a result, he couldn't experience the calmness that the fear of God and not earthly things will produce.

I guess that was why he ran to the sacred tent quickly and pray to God, fearing that he may lose his life, rather than thinking of how had he put God down by leading his own ways in the past and seeing the importance of seeking God's forgiveness instead.

To end this, Proverbs 1: 30-33 shows God's promise regarding this topic:

[Wisdom says,] "They rejected my advice and paid no attention when I corrected them. Therefore, they must eat the bitter fruit of living their own way, choking on their own schemes. For simpletons turn away from me - to death. Fools are destroyed by their own complacency. But all who listen to me will live in peace, untroubled by fear of harm.

yee kuan