“Shhhh!” scolded Amelia, her little finger up to her mouth. “I can talk,” answered Thomas. This exchange was happening across my lap during worship. The deacon voiced the closing prayer and service was nearly over. We would just barely make it through the final song. The snacks ran out before the sermon and the toddlers had been still and quiet for as long as they could manage. Watching them shushing each other reminded me of how much easier it is to see the speck in someone else’s eye than to recognize the log in our own. (Luke 6:41-42) Each week as I read and study before writing, I find that I am constantly being challenged to practice what I preach.
“For the word of God is alive and powerful.
It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow.
It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God.
Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.”
Hebrews 4:12-13 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/heb.4.12-13.NLT
“Sadly, Solomon is a figure whose great wisdom was sometimes not followed in his own life: his own building program, both physical and metaphorical, became foolish (1 Kings 9:10–19), his kingdom a ruin (1 Kings 11:11–13, and his household — not least his multiplied pagan marriages — a systematic denial of the claims of the living God (1 Kings 11:1–9). How important to ask God for the grace to live up to what we understand!”
Read the Bible: Joshua 3, Psalms 126–128, Isaiah 63, and Matthew 11
“They (Solomon’s wives) were of the very nations of whom the Lord said to the Israelites, You shall not mingle with them, neither shall they mingle with you, for surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods. [Deut. 17:17]
Yet Solomon clung to these in love.”
1 Kings 11:2 AMPC
https://bible.com/bible/8/1ki.11.2.AMPC
Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. He wouldn’t give them up. Not only did he build shrines for each one to burn incense to their false deities, he began to worship many of them himself.
“The Lord was very angry with Solomon, for his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.
He had warned Solomon specifically about worshiping other gods, but Solomon did not listen to the Lord’s command.”
1 Kings 11:9-10 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1ki.11.9-10.NLT
Solomon, who was granted wisdom beyond anyone who ever lived by God, had no excuse for his actions, and neither do we. We can attempt to justify ourselves to God, but our attempts will always be in vain. God’s Word is Truth and His Truth stands firm throughout time and eternity. Whether or not I am aware of His Truth or inclined to agree with it is irrelevant. I will be held accountable. God is my judge and I must stand before Him to give an account for every careless word I have ever spoken. (Matthew 12:36) Just beyond the Old Testament command not to take foreign wives, we find this command.
“When he sits on the throne as king, he must copy for himself this body of instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests.
He must always keep that copy with him and read it daily as long as he lives.
That way he will learn to fear the Lord his God by obeying all the terms of these instructions and decrees.”
Deuteronomy 17:18-19 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/deu.17.18-19.NLT
Before you consider dismissing Solomon’s wisdom literature included in the Biblical canon, remember-
“Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative.
No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.”
2 Peter 1:20-21 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/2pe.1.20-21.NLT
On a hill east of Jerusalem, cited as the Mount of Olives by New Living Translators, where Solomon built shrines for pagan gods, Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man, prayed on the night He was betrayed into the hands of sinful men,
““My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me.
Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.””
Matthew 26:39 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.26.39.NLT
“Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly?
But if I did, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that describe what must happen now?
But this is all happening to fulfill the words of the prophets as recorded in the Scriptures.”
Matthew 26:53-54, 56 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mat.26.56.NLT
Solving the Puzzle of the Proverbs
“So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe.
This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.
So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”
Hebrews 4:14-16 NLT
A Fitting Reply 