The Bible Edge
Everyone needs an Edge, Believers can have a Bible Edge
1 Kings 10:1
And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions.
A proverb of the Bible is …the honour of kings is to search out a matter (Proverbs 25:2). Evidently this applies to queens also. Sheba was the Queen of Saba in Arabia. She heard about Solomon and his God, so she came to him to prove him. She, a queen, wanted to prove a king. The Bible gives no motive other than her desire to simply search out a matter. Great people in offices of authority would do well to follow her example.
In this day and age it seems that so many live with this idea of… “If I haven’t heard of that it cannot possibly be true.” Go to any church; they will be there. Many times pastors will be challenged for that which they preach by individuals who have not studied the Bible on the matter, have not prayed about it, do not have a complete working knowledge of the Scriptures to the point of being able to rightly divide the Word. They fold their arms, take upon themselves the look of total disgust, and when the opportunity arises, they tell the preacher that he is wrong. Now, no doubt, preachers can be wrong, but before making that assumption, do that which Queen Sheba did, that which kings do, and prove what they say with hard questions. Not questions asked with hard spirits but with questions that are difficult to answer.
Children do this with parents, employees with their managers, spouses with spouses, the common citizenry toward politicians, and patients with their doctors. Before jumping to conclusions, search out the matter. The Bereans did, Acts 17:11 says so. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. It may be the preacher is wrong, or a parent, or a manager, spouse, politician or doctor, but before claiming that they are wrong, search out the matter. If it is a religious matter, search the Bible daily until the Lord gives you His answer on the issue. Frankly of all those authority figures mentioned in this paragraph: parents, managers, spouses, politicians, and doctors, that which they believe, teach and practice is subjective. But not preachers. They are bound by that which the Bible states clearly as discerned by careful study.
So, when it comes to the matters of our Lord, be like the Queen of Sheba and search out the matter with sincere, honest, and yet difficult questions. After all, truth never hesitates to be found out, truth wants to be examined under the hot lights of doubt. Truth is always right. Concerning the name of the Lord, the Queen searched it out and found all that she heard in her homeland to be true. More even! For she said: Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard. I Kings 10:7 Her lesson of life for us to learn: search out a matter before jumping to conclusions. It will give you an edge in life and may just keep you from being misled by falsehoods perpetrated by those with underhanded motives.
William T. Howe, Ph.D.
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