King Solomon is known as the richest king that ever walked the face of the earth. There was no one ever like him and there is likely to be no one like him – ever.
Not only was King Solomon credited for building the first temple, which he father David desired to build, he was also known for receiving wisdom that he requested from God after presenting 1000 bulls in one night. However, there is something else that Solomon is also known for – and it wasn’t something to boast about.
Though he asked for wisdom to judge the people and built the temple, Solomon could not contain himself when it came to women. So much so that ‘...he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines...’ The other thing was that Solomon loved all these foreign women so much, disregarding God’s warning not to marry them, that these same women ‘...turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David.’
What were the consequences? Because they were women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites, they eventually led Solomon to set up images and altars to their gods. These gods among others were goddesses of fertility where its worshippers would perform sex acts, astrology and also human sacrifices involving children. It is no wonder ‘the Lord became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the Lord had commanded.’ Read 1 King Ch.11.
“Why does this have to do with me?”
People today are doing the very same thing that Solomon did regarding their love lives. They make compromises in the beginning, thinking it is innocent and will not harm them, but later on these ‘innocent’ and ‘naive’ actions can lead their love life to disaster.
When someone has reached the point of dropping their guard and making compromises, they have already put one foot in that trap that will lead them to ruining their entire life.
If you decide to date a person, who doesn’t share your active faith, you are heading down ‘Disaster Road’ and there will be a point where it will be too late to do a ‘U-turn’.
Example 1: The one you are dating tells you to go out with his friends to the pub. Their argument? “We will look out of place if you don’t go with me. John’s wife is coming. You don’t have to drink alcohol and I won’t make any jokes about church – I promise.”
Example 2: A few social gatherings later with those same friends, you are starting to feel anti-social and don’t want to be left out, so to please your partner and to ‘fit-in’ you decide to smoke one cigarette. After all, they did say, “one won’t kill you.”
Example 3: You are so fed-up being alone that you decide to go out with some friends to a restaurant. The night is still young, and so they head off to a bar and then a nightclub. Not to put a dampener on things, you decide to join them – You end up the next morning with a hangover, wondering who is this sleeping next to you.
These may sound like extreme examples to some. Others may think to themselves, ‘there’s nothing wrong with that.’ However this has and continues to occur amongst Christians and if you have been doing these things thinking that you are not hurting anyone or, it’s just harmless fun, then you are following in Solomon’s footsteps. He thought he was OK – until it was too late.
Don’t assume all is OK! You can however do a U-turn and make amends.
That decision is only up to YOU.
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