Adonijah was the son of David. He decided he should be king. He didn't ask his father. He didn't ask his father's advisors. He just got a bunch of his cronies together and they had a party saying he was king. From the appearance of things it looked like he was successful. He had fighting men behind him so he could enforce his rule. It looked like he won.
But God had different ideas. King David was alerted (he was really old by this time and could give up his rule) by Bathsheba and Nathan the Prophet. David had promised Bathsheba Solomon would be king.
Long story short: Solomon became king, really became king.
One thing came to mind while I was reading this this morning. God has the last word in his children's lives. We might come up against someone or something that tells us one thing. But if it isn't what God has planned, it isn't going to stick.
People can say what they want. Our God is our Father and this is His world. If we keep believing and resting in Him we can be assured His purposes will come to pass and as Hebrews 11:6 says, "he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him."
This doesn't mean we should expect easy living and Christmas every day. But, it does mean that when things look bad, feel bad, are bad, we can be assured that God is still there and He's working the plan out. There are all sorts of people and circumstances that are involved we can't see. He sees the big picture.