1 Kings 1:5-6

"Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, "I will be king"; and he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. And his father had not rebuked him at any time by saying, "Why have you done so?" He was also very good-looking. His mother had borne him after Absalom." 1 Kings 1:5-6

Strange things happen in a vacuum. Many, many years ago my during my secondary school physics class our teacher put a perfectly flat balloon in a vacuum pump, then began to evacuate the air from the chamber. Guess what? The "empty" balloon began to inflate. The little bit of air in the balloon attempted to fill the void in the vacuum chamber!

The law of the vacuum even has its effect in the church. Too many times I have seen the power struggles that take place when 1) a pastor leaves, 2) an elder retires, 3) new officers are elected, and 4) a new building is constructed. It is amazing how "normal" and "sane" Christian "leaders" descend into the pits of self-promotion in such circumstances.

David's death left a vacuum in the Israeli kingdom. Solomon was David's choice as a replacement - he was God's choice, too. But, Adonijah had a different idea. He gathered his power base and began a march on Jerusalem. The only problem was that Adonijah was not "king" material. He was a spoiled brat - to put it bluntly! David had never used the "no" word on him. Therefore when God said "no", Adonijah did not hear anything but his own desires ringing in his ears saying "go for it!" Obviously, something happened to prevent Adonijah's plans because we all know that a humbled Solomon became king and reigned for many years.

You and I must be careful that we don't let the "vacuum principle" invade our lives as well. We could easily become embroiled in the political vacuums of our workplace, church, or social group.
It would not be unusual for us to begin to promote ourselves a bit - just to see what would happen. We have all taken our turns at "blowing our own horns" because we all know that "no one else will."

It is with a guilty heart that I encourage each of us to cease the posturing and allow God to do the promotion. He certainly has better plans for us than we could ever imagine. Amen and Amen.