September 11th, 1963                “Obedience to God Brings God’s Protection”                     Mr. N. Daniel

 

I Kings 11:1-14           

            Vs. 14 “The Lord stirred up an enemy against Solomon.” When we go against God’s laws enemies spring up against us. When we obey the laws of God, no adversary can rise against us. First of all our enemies are within us. Our old nature is our enemy. But it has been subdued at conversion. If you are not careful it will put up its head again. Remember, by the grace of God, you have subdued your evil nature. When some people look at some money or jewels, they are attacked. When they see nice houses they are attacked. But we have, by God’s grace, subdued all that. You have no attraction for these. No man or woman can stir up in our hearts an evil desire. When we go into a church our heart is kept very pure. We have subdued that evil nature in us by the Cross. It is a great gain. Non-Christians do not know that this is a great victory.

            When a man or woman is married to an unconverted person what attacks he or she has! In the new house, there is no fear of God. The adversary wants to attack at every corner and very soon they succumb. What they have learned from parents and Christian fellowship they soon forget. The riches of that new house may completely unbalance them. There are other adversaries. The devil knows whom to stir up against you. Your children are very innocently going about. Some wicked man or woman will bring temptation to them. That is an adversary.

            When you obey the laws of God, there is peace in your house. What wonderful peace you enjoy! What beautiful harmony! There is no suspicion in the house. You are able to keep your money anywhere and it is quite safe. Everything in the house is safe from wicked enemies. When the enemy takes hold of a child, all the peace is disturbed.

            First of all, Solomon yielded to worldly desire. God gave him great wealth. It was due to his father’s godliness. He forgot that. He began to lose hold of God. Then the devil attacked his house. A very evil genius was raised up against him. He was an extra-ordinarily capable man. In your office if a wicked fellow rises against you, remember there is something wrong in you. When you are living in the will of God, no man that raises his hand against you will escape. Very soon they will be rewarded. So people will understand that they should not deal roughly with you. In this world when a man is promoted to a big office, they want to do him some harm. In India, particularly, it is like that. When you belong to Christ be sure all such adversaries will be subdued. Some adversaries rose against Pastor Hsi, but they perished. Some pious missionaries were ill-treated, and those that did the wrong suffered. “Don’t go against these men; it is dangerous,” they said.

            Solomon lost this protection. By prayer, Bible study and obedience to the Word of God you build a fence round your family and the devil cannot easily come through it. So you must be careful about how you obey the Word of God. As we are preaching the Word it becomes commonplace to you. You must be very careful. When we preach, we must ourselves live it.

            Solomon tried to have an easy time. God raised an adversary against him. But if you are in the will of God such adversaries can do nothing against you. Your prayer will completely spoil their plans. You need not do anything actively against them. The enemies of Isaac were afraid of him. The enemy captain came and said, “I see God is with you, let us make peace.” Then Isaac pointed out to them the things his servants had done. They apologized and always feared Isaac. Jacob’s brothers-in-law were afraid of him. All those people around Jacob were afraid of him. God is mindful of you. He is mindful of your children. When you are humbly serving the Lord, you never allow evil thoughts against another. You don’t work against them. Day and night you are meditating on the Word of God and it is becoming part of your nature. One day your nature and the Word of God will become the same. When you speak, you will speak only the Word of God. You never think evil against others. Poor Solomon! He asked God for gifts but he did not get the gift of obedience to the Word of God: “O Lord make me love Thy Word, make me obey Thy Word, I don’t want anything more. Gold and silver will come of their own accord. Blessings to the children will come of their own accord. But help me to obey Thy Word!” Such should be our prayer.