1 Kings 11:1--"King Solomon, however . . . ." However is loaded with meaning here. We have just concluded reading about the splendor and wisdom of Solomon. Now this little word "however" introduces us to Solomon's other life, a life in stark contrast to the blameless life God had called him to live. Dear Jesus, I do not know if anyone will ever write my life story, but I pray there will not be any "howevers" included. Ladies, whenever it is in within our power to choose, let's lead a life without regrets. May our lives bring glory to God.
1 Kings 11:4--"As Solomon grew old . . . ." I'm sorry, but my expectation was that Solomon would grow even wiser with age. With age comes wisdom, right? As I lay in bed last night, I asked God, "Why? Why couldn't Solomon be the perfect king? Why couldn't he have learned from his father David's mistakes?" God's reply? "No man can be perfect."
I was so disappointed in Solomon. Guess what, people will always disappoint us. "No man can be perfect." We all need a Savior. Solomon needed a Savior.
1 Kings 11:9-10--"The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD's command." God had appeared to Solomon TWICE. I want to put on my judge's robe and condemn Solomon for his disobedience, but I can't because I do the exact same thing. Sure, my sin may look different than Solomon's, but at the core it is the same. When things are rocking along smoothly in my life, I get my eyes off of God, and I start listening to the advice of other people. I get distracted from worshiping the One True God. All sin comes back to selfishness and pride. Although it shows up in our lives in different forms, all of it is a slap in the face for our Savior.
To sum up the remainder of Solomon's days, God raised up three enemies: Hadad, Rezon, and Jeroboam. Solomon's 40 year reign of peace ends in disappointment.
1 Kings 12--Solomon's son Rehoboam was doomed to failure from the beginning. In Chapter 11 Ahijah had already prophesied that Jeroboam would be king of Israel instead. I want to ask the "what if" questions. What if Rehoboam had listened to the advice of the elders? What if Rehoboam had studied the history of his nation and chosen to seek advice from God? But 1 Kings 12:15 says, "this turn of events was from the LORD." While David had handed his son a successful kingdom, Solomon did not continue the tradition. In one generation the dynasty had fallen apart. Ladies, we should pray for our children and our grandchildren and our great grands and so on. We must be intentional about training our families to be followers of Jesus.
1 Kings 12:25-33--Okay, I have real issues with God's choice of Jeroboam as the leader of Israel. Why would God appoint a man who was going to lead the people to worship golden calves? I don't get it. Does anyone have any insight here?
Let's end on a positive note. Will you write and tell me what your prayer is for your family today? You can post a comment on my blog or you can send me an email. I am praying God will surround my husband and children with godly people. I pray all of their friends will encourage them to fall more in love with Jesus.
Solomon had so much to live up to. My Bible points out all the pressures that Solomon had and that Solomon handled the government side of that very well, but He couldn't handle the pressure his wives put on him. His wives wanted Solomon to worship their God, in that close relationship it is hard to resist the pressure or compromise, so after so long Solomon joined in all the sin. Solomon became completely corrupted, he didn't even seek Gods word anymore!
ReplyDeleteSolomon was so blessed, people wanted to seek out his council and God provided it, but even that did not keep the enemy out. That is terrifying to think about how easy it is to turn away even when our walk with God is right!
Have you heard the saying, "If Satan can't make you bad, he will make you busy"? I think that's what happened to Solomon, and I know it happens to me. It is very easy to get distracted with taking care of business--family, church, job, etc. When we do not spend time with God every morning, He gets crowded out of our lives.
ReplyDeleteRemember to tell me what your prayers are for your families!
My prayer for my family is that we love the Lord with all of our hearts, souls, mind and strength. I pray that we are strong and courageous in sharing the love of Christ with others. I pray that we stand firm and not be tempted to fall into Satan's wishes for us but that Christ is our first love and we desire to be pleasing to him. I pray that our marriage stays important to both of us and we uphold the commitment we made.
ReplyDeleteI once again was surprised at the turning of Solomon from the Lord, but why should I be? He was human just as I am and nobody is perfect. What's sad is that I can look at the scripture and see how easily they can be led astray, all of the riches, power, and beig surrounded by women and then in my own life or lives of those close to me I am baffled,how could this have happened? Didn't they see this coming, why didn't they make better choices? But once again, we are human and being pulled away from God's desires for our lives comes way to easily.
ReplyDelete