“As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.”
~ 1 Kings 11:4
Hi James and Ellen,
What do you think will happen if you never do your schoolwork? Will you be able to graduate from school? Will you be able to fulfill the potential that God has for your lives. What do you think will happen if your dad never works? Will your dad be able to care for you? Will your dad be able to fulfill the mandate that God has given him to provide for his family? What do you think will happen if a guy or gal does not do something that he or she knows that he or she needs to do? Your grandmaa and grandpaa recently have seen cockroaches in the condominium where they are living. Your grandpaa knows that if he would spray all the rooms in the condominium where he and your grandmaa are living with the spray that he already has, the spray would kill the cockroaches. What do you think will happen if your grandpaa does not use the spray that he has to kill the cockroaches that are in the condominium where he and your grandmaa are living? Would you like to have cockroaches all over the house where you are living? Your grandmaa and grandpaa are going to have cockroaches all over their condominium if your grandpaa does not use real soon – like today, the spray that he has. While your grandpaa was taking a shower the day before yesterday, the hot water shower knob came off and landed on one of your grandpaa’s big toes causing a cut on your grandpaa’s big toe. Your grandpaa for months had been saying that he needed to get a new hot water shower knob. Your grandpaa had been – each time that the hot water shower knob fell off, screwing the hot water shower knob back on again. Because your grandpaa was still able to take showers, your grandpaa kept procrastinating buying another hot water shower knob. The hot water shower knob would sooner or later come off again and . . . if your grandpaa had replaced the hot water shower knob the first time that the hot water shower knob came off, your grandpaa would not have a cut big toe right now. Sometimes a guy or gal will wait too long to do something that needs to be done and . . . being responsible is to always do what is the right thing to do right away.
Solomon was one of David’s kids. What kind of guy do you think that Solomon would become having a dad like David – seeing that David was known as a man of God? When Solomon was a young guy, God asked Solomon what he would like to have from Him. Solomon told God that he would like to have wisdom. Solomon is said to have been one of the wisest guys who ever lived on planet Earth. Solomon wrote a lot of proverbs. Solomon wrote a love letter which became one of the Bible’s books. Solomon also probably wrote a book called Ecclesiastes which talks about the kind of life that a guy or gal has who does not know God. King Solomon would become the richest guy on planet Earth. King Solomon was the king for forty years over the Israelite’s people group’s guys and gals. Do you remember who the Israelite people group was? God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids made up the Israelite people group. Something that God allowed King Solomon to do was to build a temple where His presence could always be with His specially chosen guys and gals. King Solomon had everything going for him to be a really great king while being a man of God much like his dad David was. Do you know what kind of king King Solomon became? 1 Kings 11 is the depressing story of a guy – a king, who – even though he had everything going for him, disobeyed God’s expectations for how He expected all His specially chosen guys and gals to live their lives.
What do you think God will do to a guy or gal if the guy or gal is disobedient to Him by not doing what He is clearly and explicitly impressing through His Words which He had guys record and which are now in an edited book called a Bible? God will take away blessings. Kind Solomon was disobedient to God. King Solomon married over seven hundred gals. Many of these gals were from other countries. King Solomon also had three hundred gals living with him. These gals were called concubines. God has specifically told His specially chosen guys that they were never ever to marry a gal who was not an Israelite gal. King Solomon did not obey what God had told His specially chosen guys not to do. King Solomon maybe thought – because he was a king, that he did not have to be like God’s other specially chosen guys. When a guy becomes a leader, a guy will sometimes think that he is more special than every other guy around – and the guy will do things which a guy is not to do. King Solomon began to worship the idols and false gods that the gals who he had married worshipped. Verse 4 says “As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.” How do you think that actions that involved King David, King Solomon and an Israelite military leader would affect years later God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in Israel? One of David’s generals – Joab, years earlier saw to the killing of almost every guy, gal and kid living in the country of Edom. The guys, gals and kids who lived in Edom were Esau’s extended family. Esau was a nephew of Jacob. Jacob was the patriarch of the Israelite people group’s guys, gals and kids. Esau sold his birthright to Isaac. Isaac was Jacob’s dad. Jacob had his name changed by God to Israel. David years earlier saw to the killing of many of the guys and gals who were living in Zophar. A young Edomite guy – Hadad, fought against King Solomon to avenge Joab’s killing of his extended family. A guy from Zophar – Rezon, fought against King Solomon to avenge David’s killing of his extended family. Jeroboam – the young guy who Solomon assigned to fix Jerusalem’s walls, would end up opposing King Solomon’s reign as Israel’s king. There will invariably be costly consequences when God’s will is not obeyed.
1 Kings 11 (133)