Hearing What You Want To Hear
1 Kings 12-14
In 1 Kings today we see the consequences of Solomon’s “fall from grace”. Solomon started worshiping foreign gods and God’s punishment was the splitting of the kingdom in two. All that Solomon’s descendants were able to hold on to was the territory of Judah. The rest of Israel went its own way. There are no good guys in this story of competition between Rehoboam (Solomon’s son) and Jeroboam (the new king of the other 10 tribes of Israel). Both of these fellows are not in right relationship with God and are supremely focused on themselves. Solomon’s sin has infected the entire nation and will continue to eat away at both kingdoms for centuries to come.
Recently in the news has been a charge that our president went shopping around for a legal opinion that suited him the matter of our military activity in Libya. The whole thing revolves around the notification of congress required by the “War Powers Act”. Some think it scandalous that the president kept asking for legal opinions from different government lawyers until he found one that supported what he wanted to do, but I must say that this isn’t really new in the life of our nation – presidents have been doing this kind of thing for a long time now.
Apropos of this story in the news today is a selection from today’s reading. When Rehoboam took his throne he was faced with the issue of how to respond to the people of Israel’s demand that he lighten their burden. He too shopped around for an answer that suited him.
1 Kings 12:6-8
“Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” And they said to him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.” But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him.”
Of course taking the advice that suited him, rather than that which was most prudent, cost him ten elevenths of his kingdom. The more things change the more they stay the same! I really think our elected officials should read their Bibles more often. There are a lot of lessons to be learned!
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Walking Away From God
2 Chronicles 9, 1 Kings 10-11
Well, the Queen of Sheba made her appearance in today’s reading and I had some things in mind to write about her but we also have the culmination of something that has been brewing since Solomon became the King of Israel.
Several times now I have mentioned that Solomon started out well in his relationship with God but that he would not end well. In fact, the seed of his failure was sown almost at the outset of his reign. That seed was his marriage to the daughter of Pharaoh.
1 Kings 11:1-8
“Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.”
Like Adam, Solomon allowed a woman to lead him astray. Actually it was something on the order of 1,000 women that led him astray. God had commanded the Israelites not to marry into these various tribes that made up his cozy little harem but Solomon in all his wisdom thought he knew better. That’s the problem with so-called wisdom; you always think you know better than everyone else – even God. Having just read Ecclesiastes I get a sense of a man worn down by life. Here he had everything in the world, including God’s blessing, and it wasn’t enough – everything was worthless. My friend, everything is worthless when we walk away from God.
As a side note, I have a hard time keeping one woman happy. Having entangled himself with 1,000 women I can’t help but think Solomon had his misery coming. Can you picture Solomon after 40 years of 1,000 women nagging him about worshiping their gods? Even the strongest of us can be worn down by unrelenting pressure. This is why I say Solomon had made a mistake from the first. God told him not to marry into the surrounding tribes. In his own wisdom, Solomon sought a peace with Egypt through a marriage to Pharaoh’s daughter. He then continued to ignore God’s commands and made matters worse by marrying ever greater numbers of women from these prohibited tribes.
This is how sin works in our lives brothers; first one step outside of God’s commands, followed by more and more steps out of bounds. How do you make a long journey from right relationship with God to alienation from God? Step by step. It is truly easier to avoid the first step than to try and walk back after many false moves. Still God provides a way. Whatever steps you have taken away from obedience to God, you can return. Get down on your knees, confess, ask for forgiveness, and go and sin no more.
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
What Matters?
Ecclesiastes 7-12
As I get older I am learning to let go of political concerns. Don’t get me wrong, as a citizen of the good old US of A I have an obligation to participate in the process of electing our representatives and to hold those politicians accountable for their behavior. Still, God is not defined by political parties; He is not a Democrat or a Republican. He is ruler of all. I have a far greater interest in my obligations as a citizen of Heaven. If I have to choose a party I choose the party of God. I choose to be active in His platform of saving all who will answer the call.
With all of that said, a verse from today’s reading made me laugh as I considered how some might wish to use it for political purposes.
Ecclesiastes 10:2
“A wise man’s heart inclines him to the right,
but a fool’s heart to the left.”
Now don’t go telling people that I said God was on the “Right” or any such foolishness. If you use this verse in a political context you are on your own my friend.
Moving on; we come to the end of Ecclesiastes today and you can very easily take the wrong message from this book if you miss the whole point which is made in the last two verses.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
“The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”
There is nothing new “under the sun”. Every scheme and plot of man comes to nothing, for all of us end in the same way. None of us knows the day our life on earth will end. That very day we will stand before God, and in that moment we will realize that all of our life has been a vanity – worthless. Life is about our relationship with God. That is all it is about. What have you been spending your days on? When you stand before God will there be anything in your past that you can point to that will hold value in His eyes?
Obedience holds value in His eyes. Telling a lost and dying world about His grace and salvation holds value in His eyes. Nothing else matters. Get it?
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Are You Pursuing A Worthless Life?
Ecclesiastes 1-6
First off, Happy Father’s Day all you dads out there! Thanks for all you do. Your families and our nation need you to faithfully do your job, every day without fail. It requires strength, patience, and perseverance and if we’re lucky we get a thank you once a year. Whether they say it or not, your kids need you to do the hard things for them. One day they will truly appreciate all you’ve done for them. Don’t ever give up!
Now, on to Ecclesiastes. What is vanity? One definition I found states this “Lack of usefulness, worth, or effect; worthlessness.” A definition for the word Vain yields this definition “Producing no result; useless”. We begin the book of Ecclesiastes today and the words vain and vanity appear in an astounding number. We see this right out of the shoot.
Ecclesiastes 1:2-3
“Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?”
This book was written by Solomon and he sure sounds like one depressed fellow. He has come to a stage in his life where he has discovered that everything under the sun is worthless. The phrase “under the sun” means “worldly”; it means “without God”. Solomon’s wisdom has finally discovered that without God everything is meaningless and worthless. What does man gain by all his effort in his own behalf? Our world today is consumed with a quest for meaning. Young people today do horrible things to themselves because they see no meaning in life. Many come to this place that Solomon discovered where everything is meaningless.
Understand, however, that everything is only meaningless “under the sun” – “without God”. We can work for riches and possessions but even if we become billionaires before our life is through so what? Can you take it with you? There is only one thing worth striving for in this life and that something is not “under the sun”. That something is a relationship with God. Life is meaningless without God. Meaning in life comes from relationship with Him. It is truly that simple.
Brothers, I don’t know what you want out of this life but whatever you want beyond a right relationship with God is worthless, meaningless, and a waste of time. Get your priorities straight. Seek Him first and all other things will be added unto you.
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
God Keeps His Promises
2 Chronicles 8, 1 Kings 9
The Dome of the Rock where Solomon's Temple once stood.
God has regularly told Israel that if they obey His commands and worship only Him He will bless them. He has also told them that if they don’t obey Him and they worship other gods He will punish them. In today’s reading we see His admonition once again.
1 Kings 9:6-8
“But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. And this house will become a heap of ruins….”
Where is Solomon’s temple? Where is Herod’s temple for that matter? What sits on the very spot where Solomon’s temple once stood? The Dome of the Rock, Islam’s third most holy shrine, a shrine to a man-made god, stands where Solomon’s pride and joy once stood. Why is that? It is because God keeps His promises. It is because Solomon and Israel both disobeyed God and went off to worship man-made gods.
Don’t forget brothers, God keeps His promises for good or for bad.
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
The Seed of Sin
2 Chronicles 4, 1 Kings 7
We finish reading about the construction of Solomon’s Temple and his home today. In all of the details about this construction one verse grabbed my attention.
1 Kings 7:8
“… Solomon also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter whom he had taken in marriage.”
Solomon invested a great deal of treasure, toil, and time in the construction of the Temple – God’s dwelling place among the people of Israel. He sounds very godly doesn’t he? Unfortunately the seed of his destruction is already planted. That seed is Pharaoh’s daughter whom he had taken in marriage. She, with her man made gods, would lead Solomon away from God. This bad habit of taking as wives women who worshipped man-made gods would lead to the destruction of Solomon, the Temple, and Israel itself eventually.
Sin is like that. We earnestly seek God but view certain “little” sins in our life as unimportant when in point of fact all sin separates us from God. There is no scale where sin is concerned. Sin is sin. You may think you are more godly than a murder but God doesn’t see it that way. You and that murderer are the same. Jesus said that if your brother had something against you and you wanted to bring an offering to God you needed to set down your offering, go make peace with your brother and then bring your offering.
Brothers, I know you love God and that you earnestly seek Him. If you want to be successful in your seeking, extinguish sin in your life. Even a wrong attitude can separate you from God. Thankfully He has sent you His Holy Spirit to point out your sin and motivate you to eliminate it. Listen, follow, obey, and enjoy a long wonderful life in the presence of God.
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
