Ladies, Lucre, and Liberalism

Today’s Passage – 1 Kings 10 – 11

Second Milers also read – Mark 11 – 12; Psalms 96 – 100; Proverbs 20

Scripture Memory for the month of April – 1 Corinthians 13

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 92:1

Read – “The Work Begins When You Go Home” by Pastor Chappell

“For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.” – (1 Kings 11:4 )

A good friend of mine, Pastor Charlie Horton, once told me that there are three things that will take a preacher down: ladies, lucre, and liberalism; or maids, money, and modernism. That statement has proven to be true. In the twenty years plus that I have been a Christian, I have seen many men of God wander out of the will of God; and in all of these cases it was one of those three things that caused them to veer off of the path. In our text, we see that Solomon’s problem primarily was the ladies. He had 1000 wives and concubines. Wow! How can it be that this man is know for his wisdom? Can you imagine having 1000 mother-in-laws? It would not have been so bad if all of these women shared the same love for the Lord that Solomon had; but, unfortunately, many of these women were heathen women that worshipped other “gods”. In order to please these women, Solomon accommodated for their false worship within the borders of Israel, and Solomon, himself, began to participate in the idolatry. Not very wise.

I do not thing that women were the only attraction that lured Solomon out of the will of God. He was also very wealthy: wealthier than any man that ever lived. Jesus spoke about the difficulties that wealth imposes upon a right relationship with God. Wealth can certainly be a stumbling block also. The text also makes it clear that Solomon was also lured into doctrinal heresy. So, ultimately, Solomon fell prey to all three of the traps mentioned above. The tragedy is that Solomon was a very wise man, and should have seen the dangers ahead of time. I think he deliberately wandered off of the path. He chose to go astray with his eyes fully opened.

Passages of Scripture such as this scare me. Solomon was a much wiser man than I could ever be, yet he blew it. I have seen many others fall in my time that had a lot more on the ball than I do. It scares me, because I know that it could happen to me also. I hope it scares me enough to stay as far away from these traps (and others) so that I will finish my course inside the perfect will of God.

By the way, Solomon’s unwise decisions brought about unpleasant consequences:

“Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.” – (1 Kings 11:11)