Solomon

June 5

1 Kings 11:3-12, 41-43

Solomon turns away from God

Solomon became unfaithful to God and sinned against the Lord by worshipping the heathen gods of his wives. He even built special places to worship the gods.

The Lord appeared to Solomon twice and warned him not to worship the foreign gods, but he did not listen to the Lord. So the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you have deliberately disobeyed Me, I will take the kingdom away from you. However, for the sake of your father David, I will only take a part of it away and it will only happen after you have died.” Solomon ruled Israel for forty years, and after he died, his son Rehoboam became king.

Why would a wise man do something foolish?

At what age did you start walking? By now, you should be quite good at walking. Yet even as you grow up, you slip and fall or trip over things. It doesn’t matter how long you have been walking or how good you are at walking, when you take your eyes off the path, you are likely to stumble.

Solomon must have been pretty confident that he was wise enough to solve any problem. He knew just about everything there was to know about the world around him, and he owned more than he could use in a lifetime. What would have made the wisest person on earth do something as foolish as worship silly gods thought up heathen people?

There is a danger of knowing, but not doing; knowing what is right, but not doing it. Wisdom is only useful if it is put in to practice. Jesus said, “But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand” Matthew 7:26.

Verse for today

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. Proverbs 11:2