1 Kings 9:10-14 ESV
10 At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord and the king's house, 11 and Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress timber and gold, as much as he desired, King Solomon gave to Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 12 But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, they did not please him. 13 Therefore he said, “What kind of cities are these that you have given me, my brother?” So they are called the land of Cabul to this day. 14 Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents of gold.

CABUL.
The friendship of Solomon and Hiram had flourished. Twenty years had lapsed from the building of the temple and his house when Solomon gave Hiram the 20 cities in Galilee. Hiram, howvever, was not pleased, saying, “What kind of cities are these that you have given me, my brother?” This is the reason why the land was called Cabul, to mean, “good as nothing.”

Hiram felt insulted. Did Solomon give him a squalid and impoverished cities? For whatever reason, it did not match his expectations. For the 120 talents of gold he gave, the 20 cities were as nothing.

It’s understandable that mutuality should mark the relationship between kings, such as between Solomon and Hiram. But, our relationship with our king, the Lord Jesus Christ is of different level. Is it mutual when He died for us while we were sinners? [Rom 5:8] When God the Father did not spare His Son, but gave Him up for us all? [Rom 8:32] He had given and always does give His best for us. But, do we give our best to Him? Thus, we should love Him because He first loved us. [1 John 4:19]

God does deserve our best, doesn’t He? As a show of profound gratefulness, we should strive to give our best, even our all, to Him. Anything lesser is an insult. God doesn’t need things. He owns everything. What He is after of are our motives. Everything else is as nothing to God without the love we have in our hearts.[see 1 Cor 13:1-3] Why did the widow with her two coins have given much than the others?

May, like David, we won’t give to God that which costs as nothing. However, everything in and through us belongs to God in essence. Since we are bought with a prize, what is there in our lives that we can claim our own?[see 1 Cor 6:19,20] Nothing, plain and simple.

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