10/03/2008
1 Kings 11:4 (HCSB) 4When Solomon was old, his wives seduced him [to follow] other gods. His heart was not completely with the LORD his God, as his father David’s heart had been.
1 Kings 11:7 - 10 (HCSB) 7At that time, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the detestable idol of Moab, and for Milcom, the detestable idol of the Ammonites on the hill across from Jerusalem. 8He did the same for all his foreign wives, who were burning incense and offering sacrifices to their gods.
9The LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10He had commanded him about this, so that he would not follow other gods, but Solomon did not do what the LORD had commanded.
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Israel rose to greatness under King David because of the steadfastness of his heart for God. In his youth, Solomon followed his father’s example and built a magnificent temple for God. Solomon also strengthened all the cities of Israel and his fame spread among the nations. His wisdom and wealth were without equal.
But Solomon had a weakness: women. Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. These women were from the many nations around Israel and their influence wore on Solomon to the point that he compromised his devotion and built “high places” – that is shrines – to other gods in Israel.
God was obviously displeased and we can see from Solomon’s later writings, how destitute he became.
When we give our hearts to God, we present to him a new temple, our bodies, to dwell in. But just like Solomon, we have our weaknesses and are tempted to build shrines to other gods. We allow things to distract our attention from God. We begin to take His blessings for granted.
God desires our hearts to be solely and purely centered on Him. We must daily take inventory of the things in our lives that have become shrines to things other than God. Is there anything in your life that you need to destroy so that your focus can remain on God alone?
Jeff Justus
Cleff Publishing
www.cleffpublishing.com
©2008 Cleff Publishing, all rights reserved.
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