PRESERVING LIFE
Geoffrey Bailey
1 Kings 3: 6-9, 23-28; Genesis 41: 4,5
Just a short word in relation to these two scriptures relating to the preserving of life. This is a well known scripture in Kings and we see in it the simple yet profound wisdom that God gave to Solomon, one who was not presumptuous in any sense. He says “I am but a little child: I know not to go out and to come in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people”. I think Solomon had the secret in these few words when he gives God to understand his apprehension of His people, "thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people". Beloved, God has chosen you and me, and He has set us together with a view to life being manifested amongst us. Solomon was there and he had been put in the position of eminence, he had responsibility and to each has been dealt a certain gift, and there are persons in localities of responsibility. Solomon acknowledges the responsibility that had been placed upon him, “a son who sits upon the throne of David". That great king, that man whom God chose, David; He set aside Saul, a man of demand, a man who thought for himself, a man who took the best for himself, God set him aside and gave it to David, "a man after my heart", Acts 13: 22. How God would portray for us in the scriptures the kind of man that pleases Him. It says in verse 10, "the word pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing". Solomon could have asked for many other things; he got them nevertheless, but on the basis of his humility and acknowledgment of the place that he had been put that he had been put in, a place of responsibility.
The first test is a remarkable, one, two women, two children. One dies, and both claim the living one. You might say it is an intractable problem, but the kings says "Bring me a sword”. How wisdom comes into the situation. Solomon says, “Bring me a sword … Divide the living child in two”. I do not think Solomon ever had an intention of doing that. He was in a place of responsibility but he sets a test and discerns the motherly features. Think of how it speaks of Timothy, "he will care with genuine feeling how the saints get on”, Phil 2: 20. Solomon brings to light the true mother, these true sympathising features. She says, "give her the living child and in no wise put it to death”. She was its mother! I just felt led to read this scripture because these things can enter into our experience and can be very difficult and yet the solution is to find these features which seek for the preservation and the prosperity of the saints. It goes on to say, "And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to justice". God would delight in that: God delights to manifest that all various wisdom - which He has and it is conferred on a person who is prepared to be lowly, "l am but a little child”.
I just thought in Genesis - we read it not long ago - Joseph says, "l am Joseph your brother whom ye sold into Egypt ... God sent me before you to preserve life". Think of all that entered into Joseph’s experience, how he came into prison, he was fettered, unjustly imprisoned, how he went through privations. But God as with him because there was that which was right and that which was pure with him. He was sent out seeking the welfare of his brethren. That was the occasion when the brethren said, "here comes this dreamer", that was the occasion of Joseph being taken, he was seeking the welfare of his brethren. Oh that we might seek the welfare of our brethren! It may involve cost, but Joseph was able to say here that, "God sent me before you to preserve life". What a preserver of life he was, a sustainer of life. May we be affected because the Lord Jesus, most supremely so, he came in a lowly guise and if the princes of this age had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (see 1 Cor 2: 8). The One who was the Originator of life, Peter says, "ye slew". The Lord Jesus gave His life that we might live. May we live in the light of that supreme sacrifice and may there be these desires with us to preserve life amongst the saints that none may be lost.
May it be so, for His Name's sake.
Edinburgh
6th February 2001