“Karen’s Notes!

Insights from a Glory-Bound Lady”

Selected Notes

Volume 6 Number 24

#268 “Trusting and Obeying God’s Word”

June 14, 2023

Karen only spoke in ladies’ conferences.

I used to teasingly call her “my preacher lady!” And she would be apt to snap the dish towel at me for even fooling that way! She had the firm conviction that she only spoke to the ladies. I respect her for that (and many other reasons as well.) I say this to remind us that these few lines from her conference notes were at ladies’ gatherings. However! Men, these principles are great for us as well.

How absolutely wonderful to have the Word of God.

Today and next week I want you to think of a point that Karen was making in one of her sessions at a ladies’ retreat. Karen was emphasizing the fact that the Lord expected even the king to follow His Word. She used Deuteronomy 17 as a text that describes what the king must not do and then what the king must do! For today, let’s break into her seminar with what the king must not do. Here’s the text.

“When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose…But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold” (Deuteronomy 17:14-17).

Here is what Karen wrote: God wanted to direct the steps of the king and encourage him in all his ways. He told him not to do three things.

First, don’t accumulate horses and do not send his people back to Egypt to get them. This would cause the king to trust in his military strength rather than the Lord.

Second, don’t multiple wives that will turn his heart away. These foreign wives were idolatrous and would cause him to trust in his political alliances and make him susceptible to their idols.

Third, don’t accumulate vast amounts of material wealth which would cause his heart to think independently of trusting in the Lord.

Let me send you on your way with this thought: We must be very watchful that we never allow material substance to turn our hearts away from the Lord. Solomon accumulated lots of horses from Egypt (1 Kings 10:28) and loved foreign wives (1 Kings 11:1-3a). These turned his heart away from the Lord (1 Kings 11:3b). He finally accumulated vast sums of riches (1 Kings 10:14-23). Things didn’t go so well for Solomon. They won’t go so well for us if we allow anything to turn us away from the Lord and His Word. More about this next week.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. May we be people who love the Lord our God, trust Him and seek to obey what He tells us in His Word.