1 Kings 11

Bible Passage:  1 Kings 11

We come to the end of King Solomon’s reign today.  What started out as a glorious start to his rule under direct obedience to God, ended in great disappointment as his heart was turned away from God.   The assessment of Solomon’s rule in 1 Kings is divided.

He is presented as an ideal king (1 Kings 10:23-25) and as a dismal failure (1 Kings 11:11).  Solomon was legendary in terms of his wisdom.  Distant monarchs sought him out.  Much of the book of Proverbs is connected to the wise words of Solomon.  And yet….

And yet, especially in the end, he failed to exercise the fundamental wisdom of the fear of he Lord.

This poses a sobering question today… “How hard is it for me to always ‘practice what I preach’?

Ok… another questions…. To what extent am I guilty of communicating to those close to me, “Do as I say, and not as I do’?

Faithlessness in God Does Not Happen Overnight

Reading through today’s passage also causes me to stop for a moment and reflect… there are many brethren whom I know started off brightly like King Solomon in their fear and service of God.  They were talented and capable, they were passionate about serving God and showed great love and concern for fellow brethren and the lost…. and yet… they are the ones who are lost right now and I hardly see them any more in church.

Very much like Solomon, they have wandered off the narrow track and plunged themselves into pretty much the way of the world.

Some of the blog writers have wondered how could Solomon – so obviously blessed with wisdom, wealth and power beyond all imagination – could have slipped, slumpled and slided down this path of faithlessness.  I guess this was and still remains a question I have regarding all those sadly missed brethren I talked about.

Today’s passage gives me a clue and a stern warning… the road to faithlessness is a process that always begins much much earlier from the time of the fall.

Solomon had married Pharoah’s daughter sometime during the first four years of his rule when he allied himself with Egypt against the Philistines (1 Kings 3:1; 9:16).  Then following the ways of the monarchs and kings in those times, he had numerous wives and concubines, who retained their cultural and religious affiliations.  This led to Solomon building shrines for their gods… a definite detestable compromise he sought to please his beloveds.

Jesus would point to the beauty of the flowers in the field to remind His followers that not even Solomon in all his glory could compare (Matt 6:28-29).

The funny thing is that a great and wise king or person also may be weak and foolish.

Wisdom has the power to produce riches, but the seductive power of wealth can erode the wisdom of following God.

Solomon’s story in a sense, calls us all to be greater and wiser than this greatest and wisest of kings.  None of us may compare to Solomon in his heyday, but our most critical need is the wisdom of faithfulbess to God.

Somehow SOlomon let go of this link.

How can you ensure that you don’t?

How can I ensure that I don’t?