Love That Never Fails

68. Seek God With All Your Heart

For all of Solomon's wisdom and fame, there sadly came a time when one bad decision led to another. His downfall —the quantity of wives he acquired for himself and the fact he chose them from nations God had specifically forbidden His people to marry into. This part of Solomon's life reminds us of how easy it is to get carried away with our own importance, try to make up our own rules and leave God out of our lives entirely!

"King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods." Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.

As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done. On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods. The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord's command.
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So the Lord said to Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.""
‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭11:1-13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

How painful it must have been for the Lord to see a king with such potential, deciding to disobey His original plan by taking so many wives then forsaking his first love and turning away to worship idols! In a way, we do the same as Solomon when we choose to do things our own way and make other things the objects of our greatest affection. We can easily get influenced by people who are not Christians and start taking on their priorities instead of doing things God's way. Gradually, things like work, money, our homes, various pastimes like watching TV, or even certain people, can begin to take up all of our time and we can go from just not following the Lord completely to losing our first love for Him! He is given less and less of our time until we completely stop worshipping Him at all.

At this time of COVID-19, we need to be particularly on our guard since we are not able to worship God in our churches. It is so easy to go astray and start doing our own thing as Solomon did. God loves us so much and longs to have us spend time with Him in the Word.  We need to come before Him daily and pray, cultivating our relationship —giving God the place of authority that only He deserves. It's not too late to turn our devotion back to Him!

"Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭29:12-13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Let's pray:

Heavenly Father,

It was so hard to read about the downfall of Solomon. It all seems so shocking, especially from one who was so wise, however I know that I too have disobeyed You and done things my own way on many occasions. So many things get my attention and threaten to take the place of my first love, which can only be You!

Thank You for sending Jesus to die for my sins and give me assurance that You forgive me and want me as Your child. Lord I love You so much and I choose to seek You with all my heart. I want to know You in an even deeper way and bring You glory through all I do and say. My heart is fully devoted to You!

In Jesus' Name,
Amen.