Self Exaltation

Adonijah had to move quickly. The rumors were increasing and were beginning to sound more like fact than fiction. Adonijah knew that his father was getting older and more sick. The math was easy: his two older brothers were dead, he was next in line to be king. Yet, things weren’t adding up.

Adonijah did not get an invitation to see the king. He didn’t get the nod from his father and he knew why. The people spread what they thought were rumors, but Adonijah knew it was the truth: the next king would be Solomon.

Solomon was the son of a relationship that had it’s start in sin and ended in the death of two innocents. God had turned that situation around and chose Solomon to be the next kin. (2 Samuel 11-12).

Adonijah’s pride reached it’s peak and he took action and gathered up his followers to make a grab for the crown. This was the beginning of his end.

Have you ever felt the desire to take action into your own hands because you couldn’t wait for God? God wants us to see in this passage that exalting one’s self above God’s plan (pride) can bring about destruction. Adonijah’s pride (being the rightful heir to the the throne), drove him to oppose God.

Don’t let pride be found in your heart. Pride will always tear you down. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).