June 20, 2012 … The Wise One Blew It !!

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: 1st Kings, Chapters 10-11 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link - 
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Passage of the Day #2: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: 2nd Chronicles, Chapters 9 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -   

Highlight Passage: 1st Kings 10: 23-25 :[NIV] … 23 King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. 24 The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart. 25 Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift—articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules.
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Highlight Passage #2: 1st Kings 11: 1-13 : [NIV] To study this passage, go to this link -  ============  

Reference Passage #1: Romans 1: 18-32 :[NKJV] … Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Romans 1: 18-32 [NIV] To study these chapters, go to this link -   

My Journal for Today: Back to the parallel accounts of Solomon’s reign as King in 1st Kings 10-11 and 2nd Chronicles 9; and reading these historical records and stories is most revealing and should be a red-flag warning for all of us.

 Solomon had an incredible opportunity to take the promises which God had given to his father, David, and to watch over God’s people, using the wisdom, wealth, and power which God had given Solomon to be God’s emissary on earth, … a shining light of God’s glory in the world in those days. And to some degree he did that; and kings, queens (like the Queen of Sheba), and potentates from all over the world came to see this light of God, shining with God’s glory in the world.

BUT … (and here’s another of those big “buts” in the Bible); … what happened? Solomon let what God had given the King, for God’s glory, to become a reflection of Solomon’s pride; and slowly – but very certainly – Solomon began ignoring God’s way; and he did life, as king, his own (very pride-filled) way. He let his flesh and sinful arrogance get in the way of the very wisdom God had given him to rule. He simply – but flagrantly – ignored God’s clear instructions for kings (found in Deut. 17: 14-20); and slowly but surely, taking many wives and building up coffers of God and silver and chariots and horses, God watched Solomon become corrupted, seeking after his (Solomon’s) own way rather than living for Gods’ way and glory. In a nutshell … Solomon, the wisest man on earth, … blew it!!

And this reading today caused me to return to the New Testament reference passage, to which I’ve linked you above; and I charge you to meditate on it as well as the OT passages we’re studying today. The passage Paul wrote to Christians in Romans 1: 18-32 is one which, historically in our own times, I see God doing what He told Solomon he would do for Israel in those ancient days, … to let them be overwhelmed by other nations, giving His chosen people over to their own sinful pursuits and being weakened to the point of not being able to resist the wiles and power of Satan. And that, my dear ones, is what is happening to this nation, founded on Godly pursuits and God’s principles, but being corrupted to the core by political leaders who seek after their own selfish and flesh-driven pursuits rather than following the clear dictates (in God’s word) of how God’s leaders must rule over God’s people.

If one reads what happened to Solomon – believing in the truth of God’s word as witnessed in 2nd Timothy 3: 16-17 – and then reads the Romans 1 passage linked above, you have to be able to see that God is only going to keep His hand of protection on this country for so long; and He will ultimately visit this nation with His “wrath of abandonment,” as John MacArthur calls it, on American the way we read the Lord promised He would do to Israel following Solomon’s reign. And when one reads what transpired later in Israel’s history, we know that’s exactly the scenario we can expect as we head down this road today. And my friend, it will also happen just as we read in Romans 1 to America if those we put in power here in the USA lead as Solomon led and let their pride ignore the warnings of God from His word.

May God have mercy on His remnant, i.e., those who recognize what is happening and who pray for leaders to come into power who’ll live by God’s word, seek His will, and lead our country in His ways.  

My Prayer Today: … Lord, have mercy on us; as we humbly pray in the Spirit as You charged Your peoples in 2nd Chronicles 7: 14. Amen