I Kings chapter 10 describes the high point of King Solomon’s life – wisdom, wealth, prosperity – as the Queen of Sheba comes to see Solomon. She leaves vast amounts of gifts behind her and is completely impressed with the wisdom of the king.
Chapter 11 takes the reader totally by surprise and details how Solomon turns away from God. Despite his amazing wisdom, he decides to disobey God and marry women from the nations that surround Israel – the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites and more. He was captured by them and loved them deeply. They swayed his heart, and he began to worship their gods, even building places of worship to these false gods.
Think about it for a minute. Solomon had directly heard from God on two different occasions in his life, other than Jesus he was the wisest man to live on the earth, and he experienced wisdom, riches, and peace from God. For much of his life, he demonstrated complete devotion to the Lord, even building the temple in Jerusalem. If he can be lured by the temptations of the world, cannot you and I be too?
Yes, we can. It is surprisingly easy and common to become caught up in the pleasures of this world and have our hearts drawn to things other than God. We can want an impressive career and be caught up in study, degrees, and work. We can long for a new car and spend hours surfing the Internet, thinking about it, and talking about it. We can desire a beautiful or handsome spouse and discard biblical values in our never ending pursuit of her or him. We can give ourselves to sports to such a degree that we have little time for God, the church, or Bible reading.
Or we can do all of these things to the glory of God. We can live in the world yet not be attached to it. We can live with God on the throne of our hearts and please him in the daily aspects of life. We can live with a conviction that God is the number one priority and all else is secondary.
In what areas are you lured by the world? Is God #1 in your life? Commit to day worship God alone and let him be Lord over all of your life.
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