Led Astray

1 Kings 11:4

“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.”

I will bet you have heard of the phrase “blind leading the blind.”  Or the t-shirt that says “I’m with stupid.” In the show “Americas Funniest Home Videos” there are plenty of people on the show attempting crazy stunts that deserve to wear that shirt. While these things are funny to watch, it is an entirely different thing to actually be the one being led by the blind or to be the one the shirt is referencing.  

The Lord himself appeared to Solomon two times and told him he would make him the wisest and wealthiest king who ever lived.  The Lord came through on His part and Solomon indeed become the wisest and the wealthiest king the world had ever known. 

However, here comes the slow fade.  For multiple chapters in 1 Kings, the Bible records Solomon’s many riches and how he was so wise that kings from all around would come to hear him.  The chink in Solomon’s armor was women. 1 Kings 11:1 says “King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter” Yes, Solomon was quite the ladies man with seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines.

The Bible says that Solomon’s heart was not fully devoted to the Lord any more and he erected alters to all the god’s of his many wives so they could worship their own gods.  The Lord then told Solomon that He would strip the kingdom away from his son because he did not follow the Lord fully.  Verse 14 says “Then the Lord raised up against Solomon an adversary.”  The Lord raised up an adversary; it was not just happenstance.  In fact, the Lord would raise up three adversaries. One of these foes is a gentlemen named Jeroboam who would go on to rule over all of Israel except the tribe of Judah.

Solomon had it all but he let his lust for women go way too far.  It was a slow fade away from God in his life. Similarly, when you are following the Lord with all your heart but then you start to fade away and disobeying the Holy Spirit’s nudges, you might be in for a divine intervention from God to wake you up with “an adversary.”  These adversaries were the Lord’s idea to turn Solomon back to Him.

Today, reconnect with God.  The Bible says that His mercies are new every morning.  His desire is for you to reconnect with Him.  Don’t be like Solomon and find yourself fading away from God because your lust for worldly things has led you astray.  What an epic fall from God’s elect to God’s punished in one generation.  The Bible also says to keep your minds on the things above not on the things of this world.  Set your mind today and follow Christ fully because there might be an adversary in your path waiting for you to collide with to turn you back to the Lord.  

Prayer: Father, help us to reconnect with you. Expose all of the worldly things we have in our lives that are driving us away from you. Help us to expel these people, habits, and sinful motives that are leading us astray far from us. In Jesus name, amen.