The Real One
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Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.”
Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.”
Perpetrators, pretenders, frauds...
Sometimes hard to distinguish between fact and fiction...
People hid behind masks, pretending to be one thing, but really they’re altogether something different.
All kinds of folks in various professions and walks of life!
Skilled actors… who know how to play the part… whatever part is necessary to get what they want, or do what they do...
Some are like chameleons who have a way of seamlessly blending into whatever environment they find themselves in.
The world is full of pretenders.
People with titles that don’t match who they really are. Titles, uniforms, badges that say one thing externally, but don’t match the reality of who or what they are internally.
“And you call yourself a ....” the actions they witness don’t line up with the title the person holds...
Public safety officer… “serve and protect”…
In the text today a mismatch between someone’s title doesn’t match their testimony.
Earlier in this chapter - The Lord asked Solomon - what can i do for you? 1 Kings 3:5
At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.”
Solomon's response - of all that he could have asked or requested - he asked that God grant him wisdom...
and understanding mind - or more precisely the Hebrew word in the text is leb which means heart...
Wisdom is a matter of the heart... Prov 1:7, Prov 4:7
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.
Wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge... one thing to be smart, it's another to know what to do with the smarts...
Wanted to know how to think... how to decide what to do... what is the wise thing... not necessarily what's the right thing, or the most logical thing, or even the fairest thing - but to be able to consider a situation and be able to make a wise decision... To act wisely...
He's asked God to give him wisdom - an understanding mind. 1 Kings 4:29-30 describes that wisdom like this...
And what we find in the text before us today is the a display of that wisdom that God granted...
Prostitutes... Working women...
Victims of the times and circumstances... Had to do what they had to do to survive...
We don't know what happened to the men in their lives...
Or if they were even married... they could have at one time been married to hard working, faithful, God-fearing men who had lovingly and conscientiously supported and provided for their families...
could have been the result of an affair or a one night stand... we really don't know...
What is revealed in the text is the daddy's aren't in the picture...
3 clues
women wouldn’t go before the king on their own.
Infant child - rolled over… intentional? couldn’t handle pressures of motherhood? had change of heart…?
The text clearly calls them prostitutes
(KJV - Harlots… AMP - Women who had children out of wedlock…)
These women are in survival mode… doing what they have to do just to make it from day to day… I doubt this is the life they chose… This isn’t the life they dreamed up… they are victims of their circumstances…
That’s why you must be careful about how you judge others who happen to be in less fortunates situations than you are… you don’t know their story… you don’t know how they got where they are… you don’t know what they’ve struggled through… suffered through…
And before you form your lips to say what you’d never do, please remember, you’ve not been in that same situation where you had to choose to do what you thought you’d never do!
However they got here - they’re in this position, at least in part due to the absence of the children’s fathers…
The absence of men in their lives is not God’s plan or design... God's intention - for children to be raised in a loving, caring, supportive environment with mother and father... Certain things a child can only receive from his or her father and certain things can only be gleaned from his or her mother...
But we live in a world and are caught up in a system that works overtime to separate men, fathers from their families, thus decimating their communities and leaving the majority of our children to grow up with out the influence of strong black male role models!
This is done through criminalization, incarceration, feminization and annihilation The systemic targeting of our black men have left the burden of raising our youth on the shoulders of women, who do their best, but who can’t do it all!
I've learned that Unhappy people don't want you to be happy.... (Misery loves company)... hurting people like to hurt other people...
Draw you into their drama...
Call you into their craziness...
When things are going well for you...
When the sun is shining in your world... They do their best to cover your skies clouds and fill your days with rain.
These two women stand before king Solomon...
Two victims... Both have suffered lost... Both have been injured...
One whose child has been taken, another whose child has died...
Our hearts go out to this woman... Every woman who has lost a child...
Miscarriage... Who has had to bury a child... And every woman who has desired to give birth but has been unable...
Yes - two victims here... stand before King Solomon… One accusing the other
Back and forth - he say - she say... on the surface, Solomon has no way to tell who is telling the truth...
There were not eyewitnesses. No one with phone in hand recording the events in real time… No one was there as a character witness for either woman… it was one woman’s word against the other’s.
Solomon listens to them attentively, like witnesses on the witness stand... he reviews their testimony… he investigates the evidence...
He’s listening for what’s said and what’s not said… watching body language… intonation… emotion...
Bring me my sword... 1 Kings 3:24
And the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought before the king.
Solomon's wisdom guided him to his answer... Solomon understood a truth about real mothers - they are neither selfish nor callous..
A real mother knows her child!
A real mother only wants what’s best for her child!
A real mother will put herself in harm’s way to shield her child from pain and suffering!
A real mother is willing to sacrifice and give up what she wants so that her child can live and be happy... a real mother - a woman who had carried life in her womb for 40 weeks and who had looked into her child's eyes and held her child in her arms and had held her child at her breast wouldn't be able to stand what he would propose...
Yes - he said - I've gat an answer for this dilemma - I'll cut the baby in half and both of you can have a piece...
The woman who had birthed this living child, the mother who had brought the charge to the king in the first place - the plaintiff cries out - no... don't do that... give the child to her... let her have him... even if i have to sacrifice... even if i can't have him in my life - at least he will be alive...
Can you see the terror in her eyes - the horror on her face as she imagines the unimaginable... as the king proposes the unthinkable?
She has envisioned a future for her child... she has hope that he will become successful, prosperous...
She has peered into his future and seen him graduating from school... becoming a doctor... a lawyer... a school teacher... a politician...
But none of that can be a reality if his life is taken...
She's horrified as she sees how the system mishandles her child... treating him like he's a commodity a piece of property to be cut up and distributed... or worse yet - like a piece of trash to be thrown away and discarded...
Can you hear the cries of the mother who sees her innocent... unarmed, defenseless son shot down in cold blood...
Can you feel her pain as she watches her boy walk out of the door, not sure if he will return - because it's open season on black boys and girls...
Yes - his child’s mother cries out in Horror - no king - let him live... even if I can't have him... let him life... even if I won't be able to hold him anymore... let him life...
The other woman showed the hardness and bitterness of her heart and said - i don't care...
With that King Solomon had his answer - he knew who the real mother was...
Years ago, a game show “to tell the truth”… three contestants… two pretenders and one truth teller… (how game was played…)
It would always end with the contestant guessing who was the real deal...
And after thorough questioning, and examining all the evidence, the show's host would utter the famous words:
Will the real so & so please stand up...
The tensions would mount and all of the people on stage would begin to rise, but all of the phonies would sit back down and the real deal would stand to his or her feet...
Well - this isn't a game show - but if you will allow me, I want to close this sermon by asking the same question:
Will all the real mother's please stand up...
Who knows what it is to sacrifice so your children won't have to go without...
Who know what it is to do what you have to do so your child can have...
Who know what it is to have faith, and trust God even when circumstances don't seem favorable...
If you are a praying mother - who prays for your children day and night, and believes that God is working things out...
Come on - stand up and be recognized... we don't say thank you enough... we don't tell you how much we love you enough...
But today - we want you to know - you're appreciated... we thank God for you!
You've been an example for us - to trust God no matter what - and that God is able....
Yes - you are the one that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or thing (Eph 3:20-21 )...
God's grace is sufficient - for God's strength is perfected in our weakness... (2 Cor 12:9 )
God shall supply all our need according to his riches in glory through Christ Jesus - (Phil 4:19 )
Now we can testify like David - I once was young, now I'm old... but i've never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging bread...
Like Paul - When I was a child I spake as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things...
So now we can stand with our own faith... with our knowledge that Greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world (1 John 4:4 )
If God before us - who can be against us...
I'm more than a conqueror through him who loves me...