by: Dr. Allen Domelle
1 Kings 1:5
“Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king: and he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.”
Adonijah’s self-proclamation that he would be king was the pronouncement of his demise. He was so confident in himself that he thought he could deny God’s will. It was God’s will that Solomon should be king, and he knew it. He said so with his own mouth in 1 Kings 2:15 when he said, “…Thou knowest that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign: howbeit the kingdom is turned about, and is become my brother’s: for it was his from the LORD.” Though he knew the kingdom belonged to Solomon, his pride still tried to promote himself above the will of God.
Self-promotion is not a new phenomenon. Since the beginning of time, we have seen people try to promote themselves into position, some have succeeded, but the result is always the same: destruction. God says in Luke 14:11, “For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” You may think that you can gain position and recognition through self-promotion, but the Scriptures make it clear that self-promotion is an individual’s destruction. Proverbs 16:18 reminds us, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Three things you must remember about self-promotion.
First, self-promotion is ignoring the sovereignty of God. Adonijah literally thought he had the power to negate what God had already willed. You always have to understand that God has a will, and to think that self-promotion can get you what you want is to tell God that you are more powerful than He. God will have His way one way or the other. You can submit to God’s will and be blessed, or you can let God’s will force you into submission and be destroyed; the choice is yours.
Second self-promotion is rejecting God’s will for your will. When you start promoting yourself, you are telling God that you don’t want what He wants, you want what you want. Selfishness never pays, it always leaves your character in debt.
Third, self-promotion is following Satan’s methodology. Lucifer tried to exalt himself above God, to his own destruction. Anyone who uses self-promotion as a tool to gain position is practicing Satan’s methodology. Preacher, don’t promote yourself to gain national recognition among your fellow preachers. Employee, self-promotion only leads to your demise. Christian, self-promotion is not the way to gain position in the church. Anyone who chooses to bring recognition to themselves is following the wrong pattern.
What is the answer? The answer is found in 1 Peter 5:6 where it says, “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:” God honors humility, not self-promotion. Friend, stop worrying about gaining position and start submitting yourself to the will of God. If you stay focused on faithfully performing God’s will, He will exalt you in His timing. Never fall for Satan’s tactic of self-promotion, but be humble enough to submit yourself to God’s will and He will exalt you when you are ready.