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The
Case of Solomon
Among those that though initially walked
with the Lord wholeheartedly, latter, by permitting sin to enter
their hearts, were driven away from Him, there is probably no
louder example than Solomon. Three books of the Bible have him as
writer, and this alone may be enough to show how hot this man
initially was for the Lord. The wisdom the Lord had given him was
really extraordinary. As we read in I Kings 4:29-30, 34 :
I Kings 4:29-30, 34
"And God gave
Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness
of heart like the sand on the seashore. Thus Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the
men of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt.......And men of all
nations, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his
wisdom, came to hear the wisdom of Solomon."
and as I Kings 3:3 tells
us:
"And Solomon
loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David"
Solomon loved the Lord and followed what
David, his father, had commanded him. However this didn't last for ever. As we said earlier, what
we did yesterday, does not guarantee what we will do today.
Whether we will follow the Lord or not is a decision made day by
day, even moment by moment. Thus though Solomon initially
followed the Lord, he didn't do this for ever. I Kings 11:1-8 tells
us:
I Kings 11:1-8
"But King
Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of
Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and
Hittites from the nations of whom the LORD had said to the
children of Israel, "You shall not intermarry with them, nor
they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their
gods." Solomon clung to these in love. And he had
seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines;
and his wives turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon
was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and
his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the
heart of his father David. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the
goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the
Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not
FULLY follow the LORD, as did his father David. Then
Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab,
on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the
abomination of the people of Ammon. And he did likewise for all
his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their
gods."
Solomon did not FULLY turned away from the
Lord. In contrast, "HE DID NOT FULLY FOLLOW THE LORD".
In other words he was not cold, but he was not warm either. He
was lukewarm. He preferred to follow the flesh and its desires
than the Lord and His commandments. The Lord's reaction to this change in Solomon's heart is given in I Kings 11
I Kings 11:9-12,14,23,26
"So the LORD
became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the
LORD God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had
commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after
other gods; but he did not keep what the LORD had commanded.
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. 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.....Now the Lord raised up an adversary
against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite;........And God raised up
another adversary against him, Rezon the son of Eliadah......Then
Solomon's servant, Jeroboam the son of Nebat......also rebelled against the king"
Despite the fact that Solomon was
reproved, he didn't change. In contrast, by reading further
we will see him fighting even against the prophecies of God
regarding the breaking of his kingdom (I Kings 11:40)! His
example shows what can happen to a man of God when he permits the
world to live in him: he will soon worship what the world
worships.
Solomon's case is not the only case where a man
hot for the Lord became lukewarm. Many have fallen and are fallen
into the same trap. That's why II Corinthians 13:5 calls us to
"examine ourselves as to whether we are in the faith".
That's why I Timothy 6:10 (see also I
Timothy 1:5-7, 19-20, 4:1, 5:8) speaks for those that "For
the love of money.....HAVE STRAYED FROM THE FAITH". That's why Jesus speaks for a lukewarm church.
The love of the world eliminates the love of the Father and the
fact that we are (if we are) in the faith today does not
guarantee that we will also be tomorrow. As John II 8 suggests:
II John 8
"LOOK TO
YOURSELVES, that we do not lose those things we worked
for, but that we may receive a full reward."
Tassos Kioulachoglou
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