Have you ever noticed that the very man that God used to tell us…
6 Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6 (NKJV)
…did just that, in his old age? He departed from being obedient to God in his relationships.
We all know that the Bible teaches us that King Solomon was the most wise man who has ever lived.
God used him to channel words of wisdom from the spiritual to the physical world. He is an example of how a person who has total devotion to God can allow others, especially people they love, to come between them and their relationship with God.
Most people know that Solomon had many wives and concubines in spite of what God warned in Deuteronomy Chapter 17…
Deuteronomy 17:15-17 (NKJV)
15 you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16 But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’ 17 Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.
Solomon’s love and devotion for his ‘illegal’ wives caused him to put them before God. He built idols and shrines for the ‘gods’ they served and it made God very angry…but this didn’t catch God by surprise. He knew what Solomon would do even when He ordained him to be king. The fact is that God uses imperfect people to carry out His perfect will. But, there are consequences when we ‘betray’ God.
Solomon ruined his season of peace and rest by provoking God to stir up enemies against him…
1 Kings 11:11-14 (NKJV)
11 Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. 12 Nevertheless I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 However I will not tear away the whole kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.“ 14 Now the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was a descendant of the king in Edom.
No matter how wise you may be. No matter what God has accomplished through you. No matter how many ‘good seeds’ you have sown….If you don’t remain diligent in obedience, the devil can get a foothold in your life and cause you to stumble and hurt our God.
If it can happen to the most wise man to ever live, it can happen to any of us.
BE BLESSTIFIED!
BE BLESSTIFIED! 