Key Verse: 1 Kings 11:4
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.
In the world of the ancient kings, the most common way of confirming treaties was through marriage. Solomon, in his old age, became the master of this practice. Most often these arrangements had nothing to do with what we would consider emotional or sexual bonding, expressed in love as we understand married love.
We cannot help but notice the creeping progression of the disobedience of Solomon to the God of his father, David. Yes, Solomon had wisdom, but if obedience to God is not the wellspring of wisdom, it becomes the wisdom of the human mind alone. The Apostle Paul, a brilliant academic, schooled in Hebrew learning as well as the learning of the Greek/Roman university city of Tarsus, throws light on this matter of wisdom (see 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 to read Paul’s take on wisdom). In 1 Corinthians 3:19 Paul comes back to “wisdom” again and tells us that “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.” Therefore, the things that often appear as foolish to the world around us are actually the “wisdom” of God. Take for example the last statement of 1 Corinthians 3:18-23, “…things present or things to come — all are yours, and you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s.” Now, that is “WISDOM.”
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord Jesus, in You “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” I pray that I will continue to discover this hidden treasure. I’m reading, marking, memorizing Your treasure map, the Bible, every day. The cross marks the spot where You, Lord God, intersected with the human race. I may be here in one spot, but by faith I travel to Calvary, to the empty tomb, to the place of Your ascension, and on into Your very Presence where “You ever live to make intercession for me” (Hebrews 7:25). Thank You that I am discovering Your wisdom. Amen!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
God willing, I plan to meet Solomon again when we arrive in our two-year through the Bible voyage of discovery at the book of 1st Chronicles, and then again in Proverbs. In fact, as I leave Solomon for now, Solomon wrote or assembled most of the Proverbs during those early years when he practised what he preached. My son, David Reynold Mainse, has my Dad’s old Bible as a treasure. Its words are underlined, commented on in the margins, marked by a caressing hand and sometimes tear drops. My most persistent memory of my mother, who died when I was 12, is of her kneeling in prayer for long periods of time. The picture that comes to mind of my Dad most often is of him sitting in his chair, his Bible open on his lap. He was schooled in undergraduate theology by Dr. Peter Wiseman, who, during the early years of the People’s Church, Toronto, was the Bible teacher of choice every Sunday morning. Founding Pastor, Oswald J. Smith, felt that his own main gift in ministry was in preaching Sunday evening soul-winning messages of evangelism. My Dad earned a doctorate, and to the day of his death (I’ve already lived more than four years longer than he did), he poured over the Scriptures, constantly reading, meditating, inwardly digesting what he read, and praying for God’s wisdom to fill his mind. Dad was outside shovelling snow when he laid aside his winter coat and donned his heavenly robe. If I had control over my time to go, I’d like to be reading the Gospels in the middle of one of Jesus’ statements and finish His sentence by memory as I take off for the Celestial City.
Yours for wisdom and grace to obey God,
David
Up Next in Year 1 | May
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100 Words - YR1 May 3 - DIVISION
Key Verse: 1 Kings 12:13
Then the king answered the people roughly, and rejected the advice which the elders had given him…As the wall in the photograph shows, the land is divided. In the days of Rehoboam and Jeroboam, it was also divided. Friedrich Hegel, the philosopher, said, “We learn from ...
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100 Words - YR1 May 4 - JUDGEMENT
Key Verse: 1 Kings 14:22
Now Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked Him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, more than all that their fathers had done.“Here we go again.” This was a defining line spoken by candidate Ronald Reagan to President Jimmy Carter in an ...
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100 Words - YR1 May 5 - GODLY CHARACT...
Key Verses: 1 Kings 15:11 & 14b
Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did his father David……Asa’s heart was loyal to the Lord all his days.Here’s some encouragement for us all. While kings who did evil in God’s eyes came and went with frequency in the northern 10 tribes, now...