SOLOMON STRAYED --- YOU SHOULD NOT (1)

Post date: Mar 14, 2021 11:19:36 PM

“That night God appeared to Solomon and told him, ask me for anything, and I will give it to you. Solomon replied, O God, you have been so kind and good to my father David, and now you have given me the kingdom— this is all I want! For you have fulfilled your promise to David my father and have made me king over a nation as full of people as the earth is full of dust. Now give me wisdom and knowledge to rule them properly, for who is able to govern by himself such a great nation as this one of yours? God replied, because your greatest desire is to help your people, and you haven’t asked for personal wealth and honor, and you haven’t asked me to curse your enemies, and you haven’t asked for a long life, but for wisdom and knowledge to properly guide my people— yes, I am giving you the wisdom and knowledge you asked for. And I am also giving you riches, wealth, and honor such as no other king has ever had before you. And there will never again be so great a king in all the world.” 1 Chronicle 1:7-12

On Solomon’s request, God gave him wisdom without measure that same day. Through this God-given wisdom, Solomon excelled in Israel as king; through wisdom, Solomon fortified Israel and ruled the people well; through wisdom, Solomon brought great wealth, fame, and dignity to the throne, and to Israel; through wisdom, Solomon was accepted by the people and respected by the surrounding neighbors as king, and through God-given wisdom Solomon became great. Solomon ruled Israel through this wisdom and God was with him until the day that personal desires came in to turn his heart from following the precepts of God. The wisdom of Solomon was not from himself or from any formal or informal learning, from any form of insight knowledge to hidden mysteries, or from counsel by the people, it was completely given to him by God when he requested on that faithful day.

We read in James 1:5:- “If you want to know what God wants you to do, ask Him, and He will gladly tell you, for He is always ready to give a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask Him, He will not resent it.” That was what Solomon did and that was what he got. What we do with the wisdom given to us by God now depends on us and depends on our desires thereafter and that is very important. King Solomon started with wisdom from God, became wealthy through God’s wisdom, but soon after, Solomon left God’s word behind, left God’s wisdom behind, left God’s precepts and His commandments behind; to maintain the wealth and the fame, Solomon took to personal desires and pursued it with all of himself, and that took him astray.

This was God’s instructions through Solomon to Israel before Solomon became a king, wealthy, and famous. “When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me, you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses since the Lord has said to you, you shall never return that way again. And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.” Deuteronomy 17:14-20. Solomon knew what God required of him as a king, but his personal desires made him go astray from God’s precepts - you should not. . For prayers, Click here