DAILY GUIDE DEVOTIONAL: Slave Or Free

 Text: 1Kings 9:15-28

A survey of today's bible reading shows us the arrangements in Jerusalem's kingdom as made by Solomon. Everything and everyone was put to proper use. Management of human resources is a great challenge to many countries today especially in our own country Nigeria. This is one reason corrupt practices thrive, for an idle mind they say is a devils workshop. Work must be embraced with dignity. Governments should put to productivity every aspect of labour, skilled, unskilled and semi skilled. Individuals who can't find gainful employment with the government should make themselves productive by learning a skill and thereafter fix themselves in an enterprise of their own through business or other services, engaging in trading or other legitimate economic activities. This keeps head, mind and hands busy and gives less room for evil to thrive.

The original inhabitants of the land were subjected to slavery and forced labour while the Israelites received employment as overseers. The lord's command was that the Hitites, the Jebusites, Amorites and the rest should  be annihilated. But here we can see that many of them survived and at the height of Jerusalem's prosperity could only he reduced to slaves: hewers of wood and drawers of water. When the kingdom became weakened progressively after the reign of Solomon, they would revolt and break away from their rule and constantly became a snare and trap for the Israelites. It is always best to keep God's directives in totality. God had freed us from the slavery of sin and Satan we must stay that way and never allow our lives to get entangled again.

Bible gave attention to the elevation of Solomon's Queen a heathen from Egypt. Egypt was a no go area for the Israelites, but Solomon paid no heed to God's directives over the matter of his marriage. He bothered rather with forming alliance with great kings, but for what? since God has already established him.  God is very much interested in the nitty gritty of the laws he's given to us, especially when we hold a public position in the community of believers. We must be blameless in everything we do and set our hearts to obeying God.