1 Kings 3:16-28 5/14/23 A.M. Mother’s Day
The Choices a Mother Makes
Happy Mother’s day to all of you ladies who are mothers or you have mothered someone else’s child. I sure miss my mama. I said a few years ago “If you don’t like me, blame my mother. If you don’t like my kids, blame Rachel.” Why? Because mother’s have so much influence over their children.
My mother was raised in a very poor home. My grandfather was a share cropper over around Oilton and worked hard to provide for his family. They barely scraped by. My mom was the next to the youngest. My uncle, her younger brother, is the only one of the 7 kids still alive. But my mama would often speak about her own mama and how much she meant to her. How that she was the one who made life joyful. My mom told about a time when she was going to be in a school program and it was going to take place in the evening after school so she stayed at the school and my grandmother walked for MILES to get to the school, carrying my uncle the whole way, just so that she could see my mama in the program. After it was over they all rode home together on the school bus.
You know, something I have noticed about mama’s is they will DO just about ANYTHING to make their kids happy. They will SACRIFICE just about ANYTHING to supply their needs. And they will give EVERYTHING for the LIVES of their CHILDREN.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If you want to see just a SMALL GLIMPSE of the LOVE that God has for you, just look at a MOTHER. Let’s read 1 Kings 3:16-28.
“Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him.
17 And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house.
18 And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house.
19 And this woman's child died in the night; because she overlaid it.
20 And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.
21 And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear.
22 And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king
23 Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living.
24 And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king.
25 And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.
26 Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.
27 Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.
28 And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.”
If you look at the previous Verses in this Chapter, you’ll see Solomon had a dream. God spoke to him in this dream and asked Solomon what he wanted. And instead of asking for RICHES he asks for WISDOM. Verse 9 tells us,
“Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?”
This pleased the Lord and He granted Solomon’s wish. Solomon had the ability to REASON things out in his mind and make good decisions. God also gave Solomon what he didn’t ask for. Great riches and honor.
And so one of the first decisions Solomon had to make was between two mothers. We’re going to look at that this morning.
Before we do, let’s go to the Lord in Prayer.
Brother ____, would you lead us?
You kn0w, as we look at these Verses, we see a really sad situation. Two mothers who had NO DOUBT made some bad decisions.
Some Bible Scholars try to reason this out that these two weren’t PROSTITUTES, they were just two women who were hostesses and they happen to be living together without their husbands.
The Bible calls them Harlots and so it seems clear to me that they were probably involved in Prostitution and that’s the way that they had became pregnant. They both had given birth to Baby Boys just three days apart.
I want to stop right here and say something. The BIRTH of any child is a BLESSING from God. He ALONE is the GIVER of LIFE. And that CHILD has the RIGHT to LIFE both BEFORE and AFTER it’s born. There is NO JUSTIFICATION to take the LIFE of a Child. There are NO RIGHTS of a MOM or DAD that SUPERSEDE the RIGHT of that baby to LIVE. You know, people want to put time lines on PREGNANCIES. You can KILL that BABY UP TO …. 20 weeks. Or up to 6 weeks. Folks, weeks don’t matter, life begins at CONCEPTION.
After two eagles conceive a Baby Eagle and that Eaglet is inside of that SHELL, called an egg, try smashing that EGG and see what happens. You’ll go to JAIL.
But go ahead and BUTCHER a BABY while it’s inside their mama’s TUMMY and HEY, that’s OKAY!!! No problem because it hadn’t gotten to that MAGIC NUMBER like 6 weeks or 20 weeks. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 6, that those who SHED INNOCENT BLOOD are an ABOMINATION to God. GOD have mercy on us as a NATION when we allow the MOST VULNERABLE of our society to be murdered.
Listen, if you have done this, there is FORGIVENESS for your SIN. I’ve spoken to people who have been there. Fathers who have PAID for an ABORTION to cover up their SIN. Mothers who were desperate for a WAY OUT. God loves you and He wants to give you FORGIVENESS and PEACE. Just ask Him. He’s there for you. HE LOVES YOU TODAY.
Now I want to move on and we’ll look at these two women that were in this sad condition.
I. First of all, both of these mothers had made mistakes.
I don’t know what led these two mothers to become Prostitutes.
Maybe things were really tough financially. Maybe they felt like they had to sell themselves to be able to eat.
Maybe they had made a mistake earlier and NO SELF RESPECTING MAN would want anything to do with them. They were SOILED DOVES.
Maybe they themselves had been born into Prostitution. Maybe they never knew their real father.
Whatever the reason, they were now living a life of SIN. And what a SAD LIFE it was. Looked down upon by most of society. Giving away part of themselves everyday for MONEY. And all of it was because of the MISTAKES they had made.
You know what folks, there is NOT a perfect MOTHER out there. I’ll say, “I had the BEST MOTHER in the whole world.” And … I DID. But she wasn’t perfect. I know some of you all would argue with me. “No, I had the best mother.” And … then … the FIGHT WILL BE ON!!!
Listen, all of the different situations and places we find ourselves in, are what MAKES US and FORMS US into the person we are. Our mothers and fathers have SHAPED US into the person we are today. The PLACES they TOOK us. The THINGS they TAUGHT US. The way they DID or DIDN’T DISCIPLINE US. All of these things are what has made us who we are today.
And now, YOU and I are SHAPING our children into the ADULTS they will be someday. I said it earlier, no one has a greater influence on their children than mama’s but us daddy’s are a close second.
How did these two women find themselves in such a BAD PLACE. Two women living together as PROSTITUTES. Both of them giving birth to an ILLEGITIMATE CHILD. I don’t know, but it very well may have been the way they were RAISED. But listen, they still had a CHOICE.
II. And then … A TRAGEDY.
One of these mothers, we’ll call her MAMA B, rolled over on top of her NEWBORN BABY and suffocated the child to DEATH. I can’t really think of something more horrible. To LIVE in SUCH MISERY. And then, something so PRECIOUS is taken away from you. She wakes up sometime before midnight and realizes that her BABY is UNDER HER. She rolls over as quick as she can but it’s TOO LATE. The CHILD is DEAD. There’s nothing that can bring him back so … she slips into MAMA A’s room and takes her baby boy from her and slips her DEAD CHILD in it’s place. In the morning MAMA A realizes that this is NOT her child. This is the SON of MAMA B. Her child is ALIVE and well and now he’s over there with MAMA B. I can’t imagine the WORDS that were spoken by these two. I bet you there was some YELLING and SCREAMING going on. Maybe a TUG of WAR. “Give me back my baby. This is YOUR BABY.” And MAMA B says, “No, he’s mine.”
As I was setting there reading this story, I asked the Lord, “What is it that you want us to learn from this?” A mother accidentally KILLS her own child and then goes over and KIDNAPS another baby and claims him for her own. And the mother of that baby has NO WAY of proving that the CHILD is hers. So what does MAMA A do? Just give up? No, she takes the MATTER before the KING.
So what is the lesson in this? What do we LEARN here? Don’t let your baby sleep with you? No, there’s got to be more to it than that. Besides, we always let our kids sleep with us. It’s actually getting kind of crowded now that Silas is getting so big. It’s time for either Abbie or him to go!!!
No, what is the lesson for us to learn?
Well, one thing, no matter what situation you’re in, no matter what comes your way, you ALWAYS have a CHOICE. Oh the PAIN MAMA B must have felt. I can’t imagine. But still, even in her GRIEF, she could have done the right thing. Owned up to what had happened. Took responsibility. But she didn’t. She MESSED UP and made matters worse.
Too many times as PARENTS we mess up. I’ve sure done my FAIR SHARE. Said things I shouldn’t have said to my WIFE and KIDS. Made decisions for SELFISH REASONS without thinking about them. Been ANGRY without a GOOD REASON. Been GRUMPY too many times to count. Impatient because things weren’t done FAST ENOUGH. And when things go wrong because of what I HAVE DONE then I have a DECISION to make. I can ACCEPT BLAME or I CAN SIN against GOD and my FAMILY and make things worse.
We’ve been going through the Book of Genesis on Wednesday evenings. In Chapter 4, Cain brings a SACRIFICE of GRAIN to the Lord and it wasn’t accepted. It was the WRONG SACRIFICE for the TIME. And Cain gets MAD and this is what God tells him in Verses 6 and 7.
“And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.”
As we all know, Cain later made matters so much worse when he killed his brother Abel out of JEALOUSY.
I know there are MOTHERS here today, along with everyone else, who have messed up. Like I said, NOBODY’S PERFECT. You probably haven’t always been the BEST EXAMPLE. You’ve probably not always been PATIENT. But we all have a CHOICE to make. We all have a chance to do the RIGHT THING the next time or SIN LIES at the DOOR. We serve a God not of just 2nd chances, but 3rd, 4th, and 5th …chances. Jesus gives us the example of forgiveness in Matthew 18 when Peter asks Jesus how often a person should forgive someone. He says what do you think Jesus, 7 times? And Jesus answers, 70 times 7. In other words, JUST KEEP FORGIVING!!! I’m so thankful for a God who keeps forgiving. 1 John 1:9 tells us,
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
If we’ve failed, messed up, we need to ask forgiveness and move on. And so if someone has HURTS US, taken something from us, we need to FORGIVE and take it to the KING. Let HIM decide the matter. HE IS JUST and HE IS ALWAYS RIGHT.
III. And so the KING hear’s the matter. There is NO ONE else who knows who the LIVING BABY really belongs to. There was NO ONE else in the house when the BABY DIED. It’s one HARLOTS WORD against another. And so Solomon listens to what these two women have to say. You know this story was written down and included in the Bible to SHOW US how wise Solomon was. You know, I think he would make a good lawyer. His SOLUTION seems totally crazy but it was really very WISE.
“Bring me a sword. Now, it’s nice and sharp. Cut the baby into TWO PARTS, you can have one half and you can have the other.”
I can hear the GASPS in the ROOM. “What? Solomon, are you CRAZY?” For this to work Solomon had to really ACT as if he was serious. He was really going to do it. And what happens? MAMA A says, “STOP!!! She can have him. Don’t kill him!!!” And then SOLOMON KNOWS who the real MAMA is. It’s MAMA A. You see, MAMA A will give up ALL of her own WANTS and DESIRES for that BABY to LIVE. Even though she’s made her mistakes. Even though she’s living the LIFE of a PROSTITUTE. She will give ANYTHING for her child to LIVE. And Solomon says, “Give her the baby.”
That’s the last we hear about MAMA A, and MAMA B and this little boy. This is a REAL STORY. It’s NOT just some FABLE to show how WISE SOLOMON was. It really happened. Verse 28 tells us,
“And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.”
So what happened to them? I don’t know.
I’d like to think that MAMA B repented and went on to become a Godly woman. Maybe having more children after the loss of her baby. I hope she found the LOVE and FORGIVENESS of God.
So what about MAMA A? Maybe, just maybe she came to REALLY SEE what really mattered in LIFE. I hope she also went on to REPENT. Maybe she went on to meet a nice young fellow, got married and they raised the boy together along with a BUNCH MORE KIDS.
I hope this young boy grew up to SERVE GOD. I hope the story was told to him about how a WISE OLD KING made a decision that changed his life.
Someday, I hope I get to hear the REST of the STORY.
Someday I would LOVE to hear how it all turned out.
You know, all of us are writing our own story. Mama’s you have begun writing the story of your child’s life. You get to write most of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Chapters of your child’s life. But as time goes on, they are going to begin writing more of it themselves. And how it all turns out has A LOT to do with how the first three Chapters go. YOUR INFLUENCE makes a HUGE difference for the rest of their lives.
ILLUS: A little boy forgot his lines in a Sunday school presentation. His mother was in the front row to prompt him. She gestured and formed the words silently with her lips, but it did not help. Her son’s memory was blank. Finally, she leaned forward and whispered the cue, “I am the light of the world.” the child beamed and with great feeling and a loud clear voice said, “My mother is the light of the world.”
You know, as a mother that should be true. You should be a LIGHT to a DARK WORLD. But you also need to be a LIGHT to your children. You should be the one to guide them. You should be the one to put them on the right path toward Heaven.
In closing, as I’ve mentioned before, I worked on church bus routes for years. On Sunday mornings I was the door runner. The old church bus would pull up to the house, I would hop off and run up to the door and knock. The kids would come out and I would escort them onto the bus. I remember one house in particular. I could take you to that exact house today after 40 years. I would knock on the door, it would open, the little boy would come out, then two arms would stick a little toddler out, her name was Marissa, and then a diaper. It’s CRAZY that a mom would send a little 2 year old girl on a church bus with strangers. But hey, it’s a free baby sitter. Marissa is in her mid 40’s now. I wonder where she’s at today. It’s sad to me that her mama wasn’t the one to teach her about the Lord Jesus Christ. We were.
I’m glad we were there but how much more of a difference, how much more of an INFLUENCE her mama could have made in her life. So much more than we did.
MAMA’S and DADDY’S YOU are the one who can make the biggest difference in your child’s life. Even when you mess up. Even when you lose your patience. Even when the wrong decision is made. You are the one who has the most influence in your child’s life.
Let’s Pray
