Then the woman whose son was living spoke to the king, for she yearned with compassion for her son; and she said, “O my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him!” But the other said, “Let him be neither mine nor yours, but divide him.” So the king answered and said, “Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him; she is his mother.”
1 Kings 3:26 -27 NKJV
On January 10, state Senator Linthicum of Oregon introduced the Greater Idaho bill, which would move 65% of Oregon’s eastern landmass into Idaho. A month later, two Idaho senators sponsored a non-binding petition to discuss the relocation of the Oregon / Idaho borders.
A citizen writing an op-ed piece in 2015 from the La Grande Observer noted that “They had switched their role in democracy from servant to lord.”
Moving from Missouri in 2013, I knew I was moving from a deeply red state to a deeply blue state, no middle purple ground here. However, I was surprised to find a red sea in a bastion of blue. Despite this fact, the slippery slope existed before I moved to Oregon.
Oregon is deeply divided – I have read three places where civil war could break out: Upstate New York, Michigan, and Eastern Oregon.
Other states are attempting to secede – Colorado and California, and maybe others. In the last decade or so, Colorado flipped from red to blue.
I believe the citizens of Eastern Oregon love her.
However, this is not just a states’ problem. This is a national problem. This is a problem kicked down the road for another day. This issue does not address the foundational issues that assaults every state.
The woman who stole the child, standing in front of King Solomon, did not want a righteous judgment. King Solomon had the God-given wisdom and creativity to discover it.
Just as the two women came before the King, so do we all need to come before the King of kings for answers beyond our capacity.
