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IT IS THE HONOR OF KINGS TO SEARCH OUT A MATTER
At the end of the school year, a kindergarten teacher was receiving gifts from her pupils. The florist’s son handed her a gift. She shook it held it overhead and said, “I bet I know what this is: Some flowers.”
“That’s right,” the boy said, but how did you know?”
“Oh, just a wild guess,” she answered.
The next pupil was the sweet- shop owner’s daughter. The teacher held her gift overhead, shook it, and said, “I’ll bet this is a box of sweets.”
“How did you know?” the little girl asked.
“Oh, just a wild guess,” the teacher answered.
The next gift was from the son of the liquor store owner. The teacher held package overhead, but it was leaking. She touched a drop of the leakage with her finger and tasted with her tongue.
“Is it wine?” she asked with a smile.
“No-o-o-o-o,” the boy replied with excitement.
The teacher repeated the process, taking a larger drop of the leakage to her tongue. “Is it champagne?” she asked.
No-o-o-o-o-o,” the boy replied again with even greater excitement.
The teacher took one more taste before declaring, “I give up. What is it?”
With great glee the little boy shouted, “It’s a puppy!” (From a book by Barbara Johnson, Leaking luffs between pampers and depends)
This story tickled me quite a bit; the thought of someone tasting waste thrice and the little boy knowing and just watching was just hilarious. Give it up to the kids to make the best out of life.
While this account is both funny and disgusting it taught me something; A little homework will go a long way in helping us not to taste dirt over and over. Sometimes people or circumstances present themselves in a way that may be deceptive and when we don’t dig a little deeper we may take decisions that are detrimental not only to us but others too.
2nd Samuel records an incident where Absalom, revolted against his father King David who was forced to flee to exile with the people allied to him. On his way to exile he was met by Ziba, servant to Mephibosheth, Saul’s crippled grandson. Ziba took advantage of the circumstances to slander his boss claiming that Mephibosheth did not accompany his benefactor David to exile because he knew Israel will restore the kingdom to him or Saul’s family. King David retrospectively issued a decree handing over all that was Mephibosheth’s to Ziba.
When Absalom was finally overthrown and the kingdom restored to David Mephibosheth appeared before the king. It was then that the king enquired about what happened during the revolt and that’s when he got to know the facts; Mephibosheth who was crippled in both legs was betrayed by his servant, Ziba. In fact Mephibosheth was so loyal to the king that he had not taken care of his feet, trimmed his beard nor washed his clothes until David came back to Jerusalem.
Unfortunately David the King had already made a royal decree and the only amend was to declare that Mephibosheth share the land with Ziba.
Sad.
Due diligence should be carried out before one enters into any covenant especially the marriage covenant.
A young man wanted to marry a sweet girl he had been dating for some time. She loved musicals. One time he decided to surprise her and visit her home. He had the key to her apartment. When he opened the door, he heard horrible and weird sounds. He got scared and rushed into the room. There he found his sweetheart singing songs along with a rock band her face contorted, her body writhing and slithering like a serpent. Actually she wasn’t singing but growling. Now ‘growl’ or ‘death growl’ is a vocal technique used by death metal singers. She was growling so well that any death metal singer would have envied her and as sure as day follows night she would have ‘growled’ him into the hands of his maker as soon, had he committed to her. A little homework, though not intended, saved him from making a decision that would have affected his life and generations after him.
On a more concerning note, the Church of this age is plagued by this spirit of gullibility. John the apostle admonished the Church to be careful. In his first letter he writes, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but tests the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” God expects us to be wise.
The book of wisdom states;
Only simpletons believe everything they are told;
The prudent carefully consider their steps.
The wise are cautious and avoid danger;
Fools plunge ahead with reckless confidence. (Proverbs 14: 15–17)
So while we are in this world let’s be as wise as serpents. I’m one of those who would hate to be associated with this reptile. But the one by whom all things were created and for whom all things were created, certainly knows not just a thing or two about this creature but more. And when He speaks we better pay attention. It will be wisdom to find out more about this creature.
For the Lord gives wisdom….He stores up sound wisdom for the upright. (Proverbs 2:6,7.)
