Solomon’s life was a lesson in mercy, grace, humility, wisdom, knowledge, obedience and disobedience. He was born after the consequences of disobedience took the life of his mother’s first child with his father David(2 Samuel 12:13-14). This was a demonstration of God’s mercy because Solomon’s father, David, could have suffered a more severe consequence but David writes, “We sinned against him, but he didn’t give us the punishment we deserved”; (Psalm 103:10 ERV).Solomon was the byproduct of God’s unmerited grace in his father David’s life because Solomon was born after David and Bathsheba’s first baby died (2 Samuel 12:24).David committed adultery with Bathsheba, had her husband murdered in an attempt to cover his and her infidelity and then married her and had another child. That is mercy and grace in action.
Solomon was given an assignment that he knew he would need help with; “Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead” (1 Kings 1:30 KJV). Solomon had the right response to the assignment given to him and it is called humility, “Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?” (1 Kings 3:9 KJV).Humility can be found in the opinion that we have of ourselves if we have the right attitude.God commands us not to think of ourselves better than we really are and only see ourselves as we really are (Romans 12:3).If the attitude that we have about ourselves is an attitude free from pride, then that is where we will find humility. A humble person does not make an exaggerated outward show with the intention to impress others. A humble person knows how to limit themselves in how they view themselves. The attitude that acknowledges that we have limits, is the attitude that asks for help. Recognizing that we have limits in our abilities is not the only characteristic of a humble person, but discernment can also be a characteristic of humble people. Discernment helps us to understand the right type of help we need to ask for. Discernment makes people extremely sensitive, sharp or gives someone a penetrating intellect, insight, or perception even to slight details or impressions. Solomon’s humility allowed him to have the sensitivity to know that he did not have the capacity to make right judgments concerning God’s people without God’s help.
A lowly subservient attitude catches God’s attention; “A broken spirit is my sacrifice, God. You won’t despise a heart, God, that is broken and crushed” (Psalm 51:17 KJV). God will prick and prod many of us to get our attention; “And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks” (Acts 9:5 KJV). Others of us God will crush to get us to obey; “And the Lord spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken. Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon” (2 Chronicles 33:10-11 KJV). When we finally surrender ourselves to the Lord, we become His slaves; “But now you are free from sin. You have become slaves of God, and the result is that you live only for God. This will bring you eternal life” (Romans 6:22 ERV). God hears those that are enslaved to Him and when we ask for the right things then He will hear us and respond; “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him”(James 1:5 KJV).
Solomon asked for the right thing and got more than what he asked for; “And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment;Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days” (1 Kings 3:10-14 KJV).
If we get what we ask for then at some point and time in our lives God may put us to the challenge to see if we have fallen in love more with what He gave to us than we do in Him when he tells us to give away all that we have; “Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me” (Luke 18:22 KJV). When the Lord tells us to give away all that we have, He is asking us are we going all the way with Him holding back nothing? Abraham answered the challenge; “And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him” (Genesis 22:1-3 KJV). The Lord honors those that accept the (Mark 12:42-44). Solomon failed the challenge because he had a flaw in his character. If the Lord would have asked Solomon to sell all that he had and give to the poor, then Solomon would have done it. Solomon knew he needed help and he knew what kind of help to ask for, but he was not willing to correct the only character flaw that he had which later in his life cost him almost everything he had.
When the real value that we have of ourselves is empty and hollow then there is where we will find true humility. In 1925, the English Poet, Thomas Stearns Eliot wrote the poem, “The Hollow Men”.According to historians the term “hollow men” means being spiritually and morally empty.In other words, there are no values, making life meaningless.Eliot writes, “With direct eyes, to death’s other kingdom. Remember us – if at all – not as lost. Violent souls, but only as the hollow men. The stuffed men”. Journalist Pat Buchanan described it on a September 17, 1987, broadcast of ABC News Nightline as, “An empty man whose filling up this empty vessel with someone else’s background, history and ancestry and that suggest a real flaw in character, not seen now by the country but it will be”. For God’s children we claim that we’ve filled the emptiness and hollowness in our lives with Jesus Christ. The irony of Buchanan’s statement on September 17, 1987 is the suggestion that a man can have a real flaw in his character not seen right away but eventually get exposed later. Even with the Lord in his life Solomon’s character flaw was exposed later in his life.
Solomon had a character flaw; “And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places” (1 Kings 3:3 KJV). Solomon’s life is a picture of what we all should take notice of.God warns us in the book of Hebrews that we should be careful about the sin that so easily ensnares us in our own lives. The Contemporary English Version of the Holy Bible describes Hebrews 12:1 like this, “Such a large crowd of witnesses is all around us! So, we must get rid of everything that slows us down, especially the sin that just will not let go. And we must be determined to run the race that is ahead of us”. The Easy-to-Read Version of Hebrews 12:1 says, “We have all these great people around us as examples. Their lives tell us what faith means. So, we, too, should run the race that is before us and never quit. We should remove from our lives anything that would slow us down and the sin that so often makes us fall”. Solomon initially showed that he loved the Lord by obeying everything his father David told him to do.Unfortunately, Solomon’s character flaw was a weakness that would make him fall.Solomon continued to go to the high places to offer sacrifices and to burn incense. Solomon’s weakness caused him to ignore the Mosiac law that required all sacrifices be offered at the Tabernacle (Exodus 29:42 KJV).
After Solomon completed the Temple of Jerusalem, he had the Tabernacle and Ark of the Covenant placed inside the Temple of Jerusalem. Some would call sacrificing in high places versus sacrificing in the Temple of Jerusalem a little thing, but it is the little things that get us in trouble. It is disobeying God’s commands that gets us in trouble no matter how big or small that we think it is. We think that we are doing everything right, but we still have a problem with God’s only.We think we are doing everything right, but we still have a problem with God’s except.God warns us that we could do 99 things out of 100 things right but if we fail in just that one little thing then that’s just as bad as if we failed in everything; “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10).Denzel Washington says in his new thriller movie, “It’s the little things that get you caught”.
In God’s kingdom the little things are very important; “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful and trustworthy over a little, I will put you in charge of many things; share in the joy of your master”(Matthew 25:21 KJV). The Lord considers that one out of 100 to be just as important as the rest of the 100; “What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing”(Luke 15:4-5 KJV).
God warns us not to become partners with those who reject Him (2 Corinthians 6:14 KJV). What happens when we connect ourselves to unbelievers?We disobey God’s commands, and we lose access to His mercy and His grace.When we get in trouble and cry out for help the Lord may not hear us (1 Samuel 28:7).When the Lord does not hear our cries for help our weaknesses get exposed.When we disobey the Lord, we become disconnected to Him and when we become disconnected to Him and connected to something or someone who is unholy we can’t think straight (Hosea 4:11).It is a rhetorical question but how can we make partnerships out of right and wrong? That is not partnership; that’s war. Is light best friends with dark? Does Jesus Christ go strolling with the Devil? The answer is obviously no.Do trust and mistrust hold hands? No.God said that His Spirit would live in our fleshly bodies instead of a canvas tent or brick and mortar building (Ezekiel 36:26).God said that our bodies would become His temple (Ezekiel 37:14).We are God’s temples; “You should know that you yourselves are God’s temple. God’s Spirit lives in you” (1 Corinthians 3:16 KJV).
God said himself that He would live in His people by moving into the bodies of His people and He would be their God by living inside them and they would be His people with Him living on the inside of them.If we accept corruption and compromise, then we pollute the temple. God commands us to not link up with those who will pollute the temple.God wants us all for Himself.He is our Father, and we are His sons and daughters.Solomon allowed his character flaw to destroy his relationship with his Godly Father. He first disobeyed the Lord by connecting with ungodly people and then they in-turn exposed his character flaw; “And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father. Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice” (1 Kings 11:6-8 KJV).As a result of his disobedience, his relationship with the Lord was no longer the same and had conflict in his life until his death.God stirred adversaries in Solomon’s life who gave him no rest until his death.Even those that were in his own house caused him trouble; “Jeroboam son of Nebat, an Ephrathite of Zereda, Solomon’s servant, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow woman, rebelled against the king” (1 Kings 11:26 KJV).
God warns us that if we do not obey His commands, then there will be no rest or peace in the temple. Conflict and confusion in our lives, including in our own bodies, which are God’s temple could be indications that we have disobeyed the Lord’s teachings; “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep” (1 Corinthians 11:30 KJV).Solomon’s own life story should be a lesson learned for all of us.
Submitted by Trustee Stanley Ridley