Solomon
So today I read 1 kings 11:1-13, which talks about Solomon's foreign wives. This is what I wrote in my journal:
King Solomon loved other women. He was not devoted to his wife. He had other wives. The Lord had commanded him not to follow after other gods, yet he let his wives lead him astray. When went to the trouble of building altars to other detestable gods of the other nations and did not live up to what his father had, in terms of service and devotion.
Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord this same sentence is said of so many kings. It's almost a shame. Almost? It is a shame.
The Lord looked at Solomon and where he was.
God remembered David and did not do anything to Solomon.
What I mean when I say that the Lord looked at Solomon where he was, is that the Lord, in a sense, forgot the good things that Solomon had done.
God says that here.
The Lord said this to Ezekiel years after King Solomon lives, but in his time it was true. And so what? The Lord gave Solomon a commandment, don't follow after other gods. This explanation was not necessary.
We remember what Solomon was famous for, but what does God remember? Where his heart was throughout his life.
There's something else that I wanted to touch on. I was thinking as I was journaling, but I didn't want to start writing it down.
I wondered if we as Christians look at people in the bible a certain way and look at ourselves different. One thing I hear a lot from my fellow Christians is that sin is still bad, but we should learn from it and move on. Get forgiveness, learn from it and move on. And I wonder if that's a bad attitude because it sounds dangerously close; to me anyway, to a license to sin. Which the bible says that having more grace does not mean that we should sin all the more. And I wonder, if we as Christians, at times look at people in the bible differently than we do ourselves. It's really easy to look at Solomon's life and say, All that wisdom, and he wasted it. He's stupid. But do we say the same thing to ourselves? Solomon's life is proof that wisdom, even Godly wisdom, is not enough. We need God. We need to be proactive in our decisions as to what we do or don't do. I've heard it said that one of the saddest verses in the bible is about Samson. The bible says that the Spirit of God left him, and he did not know it. How does that happen? But he must have had his heart hardened before hand so he was not really sensitive to the Spirit. But how often does that happen to us? How often do we allow ourselves to grow farther from the Spirit and less sensitive to what He wants? I know in my life I have been guilty of this, and this train of thought and reading hopefully has done something in that area.
King Solomon loved other women. He was not devoted to his wife. He had other wives. The Lord had commanded him not to follow after other gods, yet he let his wives lead him astray. When went to the trouble of building altars to other detestable gods of the other nations and did not live up to what his father had, in terms of service and devotion.
Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord this same sentence is said of so many kings. It's almost a shame. Almost? It is a shame.
The Lord looked at Solomon and where he was.
God remembered David and did not do anything to Solomon.
What I mean when I say that the Lord looked at Solomon where he was, is that the Lord, in a sense, forgot the good things that Solomon had done.
God says that here.
The Lord said this to Ezekiel years after King Solomon lives, but in his time it was true. And so what? The Lord gave Solomon a commandment, don't follow after other gods. This explanation was not necessary.
We remember what Solomon was famous for, but what does God remember? Where his heart was throughout his life.
There's something else that I wanted to touch on. I was thinking as I was journaling, but I didn't want to start writing it down.
I wondered if we as Christians look at people in the bible a certain way and look at ourselves different. One thing I hear a lot from my fellow Christians is that sin is still bad, but we should learn from it and move on. Get forgiveness, learn from it and move on. And I wonder if that's a bad attitude because it sounds dangerously close; to me anyway, to a license to sin. Which the bible says that having more grace does not mean that we should sin all the more. And I wonder, if we as Christians, at times look at people in the bible differently than we do ourselves. It's really easy to look at Solomon's life and say, All that wisdom, and he wasted it. He's stupid. But do we say the same thing to ourselves? Solomon's life is proof that wisdom, even Godly wisdom, is not enough. We need God. We need to be proactive in our decisions as to what we do or don't do. I've heard it said that one of the saddest verses in the bible is about Samson. The bible says that the Spirit of God left him, and he did not know it. How does that happen? But he must have had his heart hardened before hand so he was not really sensitive to the Spirit. But how often does that happen to us? How often do we allow ourselves to grow farther from the Spirit and less sensitive to what He wants? I know in my life I have been guilty of this, and this train of thought and reading hopefully has done something in that area.