1 Kings 11

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I Kings 11:9-13, 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. So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates.  Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”  

Solomon had many, many, many women, wives and concubines from many foreign nations.  He begins to worship their gods.  He begins to drift from the one true God.

Friends, we could kind of see this coming.  Those with absolute power and tremendous wealth have a hard time not getting distracted and to say Solomon was distracted is an understatement.  The author of 1 Kings says that Solomon’s wives led him astray but let’s be real, hearts begin to drift far before we make that bad decision.  Solomon had probably gradually, slowly been becoming more self-absorbed, self-reliant, and focused on his own wants and needs.  Self-importance and arrogance is the beginning of thinking that we don’t really need God.  We don’t need to seek God’s will.  We’ve got it all covered.

But Solomon had broken God’s covenant and for that, there would be consequences.  More tomorrow…

Let’s pray…Lord Jesus, We don’t have it all covered.  Sometimes we act like we do but it just isn’t the case.  Create in me a clean heart, O Lord, and create a right spirit within me.  In Your Name, Amen.