Your Refreshing Daily Devotional

The scripture places favour above silver and gold.  “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, Loving favor rather than silver and gold.” Proverbs 22:1 NKJV. In light of this passage, it means if you have to choose between favour and riches, choose the former. That means there are things that favour will deliver that great wealth cannot deliver. Let’s see one thing that is accruable through favour. With favour you can secure a waiver. Here is a biblical illustration of this. When Esther stood before the king to plead the cause of the Jews, favour attended to her. With that she was able to avert the disaster that seemed settled and sealed.

…there are things that favour will deliver that great wealth cannot deliver…With favour you can secure a waiver…While we cannot pay for the favour, it is right to say that those who engage in selfless service for others position themselves to enjoy the favour of God.

The Bible paints the picture of what happened when Esther made her approach. “And when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won favor in his sight, and he held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter. And the king said to her, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to the half of my kingdom.”’ Esther 5:2-3 ESV. Esther approached the king uninvited. Ordinarily, that would have been a suicide mission. The rule was that anyone who ventured into the presence of the king uninvited was met with certain death. The exception to that rule was if the king raised the golden scepter. That was what Esther enjoyed. While we cannot pay for the favour, it is right to say that those who engage in selfless service for others position themselves to enjoy the favour of God.

Abigail radiated not just beauty but wisdom. She demonstrated wisdom in a number of ways. Firstly, she did not dismiss the intel that came to her about the absurd manner Nabal received David’s messengers. It is not about what we hear, rather what we do with it is where the profit lies. Secondly, she took steps to redress the folly of her husband. She prepared ample gifts to take to David. The items included 200 loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five seahs of roasted grain, 100 clusters of raisins, and 200 cakes of figs. Proverbs 21:14 says a gift in secret pacifies great wrath. Those gifts melted David’s anger. If you are looking for another example of where gift was used to appease anger, turn to Jacob. He gave elaborate gifts to Esau, and a rift of about 20 years was resolved.

It is not about what we hear, rather what we do with it is where the profit lies…It is not sufficient to do the right thing; we must learn to do the right thing in good time.

From our text, we find another wisdom step. The focus is the timeliness of her action. From David’s confession, a little delay would have meant death for Nabal and all the men in his employ. Though Nabal eventually died, you cannot compare that to the many other lives that would have been wasted. I believe you are familiar with the proverb that says, ‘a stitch in time saves nine.’ Here we have a step in time saving scores of lives. It is not sufficient to do the right thing; we must learn to do the right thing in good time.

An argument broke out among the disciples about position and placement. A few verses before our text, they had disputed among themselves who would be the next boss. That was the opportunity Jesus needed to explain how things work in the Kingdom of God. In the world, the boss would normally sit down and have everything at his beck and call. Jesus reversed that order. Though He was the greatest of all, He was busy serving everybody. He took the lesson about service to a new height when He washed the feet of His disciples. That was a task meant for maids in the house of the Jews.

Those who are mindful of positions and power give themselves away as being immature in the kingdom. Mature children of God live to serve because they know serving is living.

Someone had made an insightful comment that service is the rent we pay for living on this earth. It is something that we cannot outgrow. The Bible observed that David served his generation according to the will of God. Jesus who came as the offspring of David followed in the same path of service. We can safely say that service runs in their lineage. What we need to add today is the fact that believers are of that lineage as well. Through faith, we are grafted into the family of God where service is the order of the day. The disciples who at the beginning of their contact with Jesus jockeyed for position finally got the message as they imbibed a life of service. Those who are mindful of positions and power give themselves away as being immature in the kingdom. Mature children of God live to serve because they know serving is living.

God has a way of graphically teaching us some lessons. I experienced this during the Covid-19 pandemic. I returned from a tour of United Kingdom and the United States on March 20, 2020. Miraculously, God kept me from contracting the Coronavirus, though the places I visited had been the epicenters of the plague. Shortly after that, the federal government of Nigeria announced a lockdown of Lagos, Ogun, and the Federal Capital Territory, an initiative which many state governors adopted immediately. I operate a highly mobile ministry, and I started wondering how I was going to cope. I felt trapped at one spot like a prisoner.

…those in physical prison are countless multitudes that are in other forms of imprisonment like sickness. They all constitute mission opportunities for which the Lord will greatly reward us in time to come.

For the first time, I began to have an idea of the plight of Paul in the prison and John on the isle of Patmos. In our liberty and prosperity, it is quite easy to forget that not everybody is having a smooth sail at life. People in physical prison for whatever reason are having a hard time. It is even harder for those that are locked up though innocent. There are people in prison for the sake of the gospel. The least we can do is pray for them, that their faith should not waver. Where possible, we should render physical and financial assistance to their families while waiting for their speedy release. In addition to those in physical prison are countless multitudes that are in other forms of imprisonment like sickness. They all constitute mission opportunities for which the Lord will greatly reward us in time to come.

Even when you have a message from the Lord, you will still have to engage wisdom in delivering it. Samuel once had a task to go anoint one of the sons of Jesse as a replacement for Saul. He was afraid that Saul would kill him if he heard of his mission. That fear was not unwarranted; so God had to teach him how to go about it. Paul said he preached the gospel in private to those who were of reputation when he got to Jerusalem. That was not a respect of person, it was wisdom so that his labour would not go fruitless. In our text, Nathan had to engage a parable to deliver God’s message and bring David to a point of conviction and repentance.

Even when you have a message from the Lord, you will still have to engage wisdom in delivering it…The beginning of the journey into apostasy is when we no longer feel the tugging of the conscience when we do wrong.

Having said that, it is intriguing that David needed a third party to tell him that he had fallen out with God. Apparently, by the time Nathan came with his parable, Uriah had been killed and David had married Bathsheba his wife. At this time too, Bathsheba had been delivered of a baby boy. We know this because Nathan said the child would die. So some nine months to one year must have elapsed between the sin of David and the time Nathan showed up. David not realising that anything had gone wrong is concerning. It is a pointer to a heart that had grown callous in dealing with issues and in walking with God. At some point, David would despise himself for cutting the edge of Saul’s garment. How did he get to a point of murdering someone and not be immediately troubled? This points to the fact that the heart can grow dull in the things of God. Consciences that are seared with hot iron, as Paul said, will make a shipwreck of their faith ultimately. The beginning of the journey into apostasy is when we no longer feel the tugging of the conscience when we do wrong.