2 Chronicles 9:12: “Now King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all she desired, whatever she asked, much more than she had brought to the king. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.”

September 26th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

God had so blessed Solomon with wisdom and riches that he had become well known to the outside world. This chapter records the famous story of a national leader, the Queen of Sheba, coming to see for herself about all she’d heard of Solomon. We cannot be sure but both Ethiopian and Jewish traditions maintain that the Queen of Sheba married and bore a son to Solomon named Menelik. The Jewish tradition says she left her son in Israel to be educated until he was 13 years old.

We’re told that the queen was not disappointed in Solomon’s wisdom. The purpose here is not to lift Solomon up but to assert God’s faithfulness to him. The intended result of God blessing our lives is that He gets the attention of the watching world. We notice that the queen received, “much more than she had brought.” This seems to be a principle for our lives as well. Whatsoever we bring to our King, we can be sure we will carry away so much more.

A century ago, a famous British pastor described in vivid detail the practice of a particular English lord. Every year, on the first day of the year, the lord’s poorer subjects would come to his manor to receive food. Every person brought a basket and he filled it completely. Each year their baskets got bigger and bigger, until the lord wondered how they could stagger home under the weight of all the food. But, no matter how large the basket was, he filled it. The people came because they knew about his wealth and because they trusted in his free-flowing generosity.

“LORD JESUS, we know that that is how You treat all who come to You acknowledging their own poverty of spirit. Thank You, LORD, that You never turn us away or run out of mercy and grace. Help us to share that with others this day, we ask in Jesus’ name.”