“There were still people left from the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites (these peoples were not Israelites). Solomon conscripted the descendants of all these peoples remaining in the land—whom the Israelites could not exterminate—to serve as slave labor, as it is to this day. But Solomon did not make slaves of any of the Israelites; they were his fighting men, his government officials, his officers, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and charioteers. They were also the chief officials in charge of Solomon’s projects—550 officials supervising those who did the work.”
Teddy Roosevelt became president not by our wonderful election process or being backed by any one party. William McKinley was the man who did all that. He picked Teddy Roosevelt as his running mate. He was only 40 years old. William McKinley, two years later, became the second president to be assassinated. Teddy Roosevelt became our 26th president of the United States at the young age of 42. Teddy Roosevelt went on to tackle big business and gave this country some of the things we enjoy today like child labor laws, an 8 hour work day, labor unions and the list goes on. He was the right man for job. McKinley must have seen something in this New York governor he liked.
Solomon was in the same boat. It took him 20 years to build the temple of God, his palace, along with other grand structures for the Israelites. In verses 20-23, Solomon puts only Israelites in places of power all throughout Israel. Why you might ask. Well, back in Exodus, God told Joshua to exterminate all the inhabitants of the land they were moving into. Joshua was not able to do this and some 400 years later, all the “ites” were still causing the Israelites to fall away from God. Solomon took this to heart and did not make the same mistake. He put only God’s people in places of power and put all the remaining “ites” as either slaves or exterminated them completely.
A powerful message to God’s people was missed by Joshua. All those men, woman, and children God told Joshua to exterminate did not seem very just at the time. However, by not fully fulfilling God’s plan, those small bands of “ites” became huge problems for the nation of Israel later.
You might be in the middle of a mess that you created by choosing to have the wrong people be put in power positions in your life. Solomon knew God was only going to bless His people if they followed all of His ways. One of those ways was putting the right people in power positions in Israel. Look at the power players in your life. Can you say that their counsel is Godly and grounded in their faith? Or are they shooting from hip or not too worried if they lead you into the wrong things?
Today, audit the power people in your life and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to Godly counsel and direction. Those small little bad moments of counsel can grow into ugly monsters later that are difficult to deal with. So deal with them while they are small and get rid of the bad leaders in your life.
Prayer: Father we have all fallen guilty of listening to the wrong people at the wrong time. The bad counsel, the most convenient source, and the family member who pushes their evil will on us from time to time. I pray that we would remove all the bad counselors from our lives and replace them with Godly counselors. Help us discern those we need to remove and those we need to listen to. Help us also to elevate the Godly workers underneath us who work as if everything they do is as unto the Lord. In Jesus name, amen.
Let It Go 
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