Simple Things

Deuteronomy 17
Verse 14  “You are about to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you. When you take it over and settle there, you may think, ‘We should select a king to rule over us like the other nations around us.’ 15  If this happens, be sure to select as king the man the Lord your God chooses. You must appoint a fellow Israelite; he may not be a foreigner. 
16  “The king must not build up a large stable of horses for himself or send his people to Egypt to buy horses, for the Lord has told you, ‘You must never return to Egypt.’ 17  The king must not take many wives for himself, because they will turn his heart away from the Lord. And he must not accumulate large amounts of wealth in silver and gold for himself.18  “When he sits on the throne as king, he must copy for himself this body of instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. 19  He must always keep that copy with him and read it daily as long as he lives. That way he will learn to fear the Lord his God by obeying all the terms of these instructions and decrees. 
20  This regular reading will prevent him from becoming proud and acting as if he is above his fellow citizens. It will also prevent him from turning away from these commands in the smallest way. And it will ensure that he and his descendants will reign for many generations in Israel.  

The daily reading of the word of God, keeps us from pride and arrogance. It keeps us in check to the laws of God and ensures our success and enables us to pass down the blessing of God to many generations.

It is the simple things that keep us grounded, growing and moving forward. Prayer, worship and the word equip us to win souls, make disciples and destroy the works of the devil. When we abandon the simplicity of the gospel we lose the power of the Gospel and set ourselves up for destruction.

If King Solomon would have followed the simple guideline laid down by God for kings, he would have finished strong, but he didn't. God gave the Kings of Israel three laws and told them to read them everyday, but apparently this daily reading never became a priority to Solomon and the following scripture tell us that he violated all three of the commands and ended up in his later years, worshiping other gods.

2 Chronicles 1: 14-16 "Solomon built up a huge force of chariots and horses. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses. He stationed some of them in the chariot cities and some near him in Jerusalem. 15  The king made silver and gold as plentiful in Jerusalem as stone. And valuable cedar timber was as common as the sycamore-fig trees that grow in the foothills of Judah. 16  Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Cilicia..."

1 Kings 11:1-6 "Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. 2  The Lord had clearly instructed the people of Israel, ‘You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.’ Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. 3  He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the Lord. 4  In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the Lord his God, as his father, David, had been. 5  Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6  In this way, Solomon did what was evil in the Lord’s sight; he refused to follow the Lord completely, as his father, David, had done."

How sad, that the wisest king could end up being so deceived and that deception found it's place in his heart because he abandoned the simple act of daily reading the law of God. My prayer is that we won't make the same mistake, but we will commit ourselves to the simple thing of God. Prayer, worship and the word of God are the necessities of the Christian life. Fight for them, guard them and treasure these simple things because your life and future depends upon it.