| What I Can Learn From . . . , Part 10: Solomon |
 |
 |
 |
| Written by David Lawrence |
| Monday, November 14 2005 00:00 |
|
Solomon’s wisdom has become legendary, but wisdom is always a gift from God, as James affirms. God was pleased with Solomon’s request for wisdom, and saw fit graciously to give him wealth and power for which he did not ask. We may learn that if we seek the better gifts, God provides the others. Remember that Jesus said to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and God would provide our needs. Paul tells us to seek first love, and love bears wonderful fruits of joy and happiness. Solomon enjoyed great success as he reaped the benefits of what his father David had accomplished militarily. The prosperity of his kingdom and the wisdom of his rule were so well-known that foreign dignitaries came to observe it. God granted to Solomon what he withheld from David, to build the temple of God in Jerusalem and sanctified it by the appearance of His glory. However, we may learn that success, power and wealth provide very dangerous temptations for those who possess them. In his later years, Solomon succumbed to flattering, foreign wives who turned his heart away from the God who had been the source of all his success to the worship of idols. He apparently became so self-confident that he considered that the laws of God would not apply to him. His foolish decisions in his twilight years trumped the many expressions of his wisdom in his younger days and led to the division of Israel into two warring small nations. Thus there is a sad lesson to be learned from Solomon along with the good ones. If God does see fit to bless us in extravagant ways, we must not lose our moral or spiritual balance. It would do well for all of us humbly to express to God with great regularity our awareness of our dependence on Him. And we should as well pray for an ongoing measure of divine wisdom to use those abundant gifts to His glory. |
Join our Devo Mailing List
We'd be honored to send you our devotionals via email. To be included on our list please visit our Contact page and write us a request.