Where did everything go so wrong? What did we do that drove us into the dark waters? 1 Kings 9ff, God called Solomon. He asked Solomon to govern His people and to love only Him. "If you will follow Me with integrity and godliness, then I will..." But, in all of Solomon's wisdom, he denied himself nothing. His women that he chose, were faithless women, from other nations and he had no true friends to help him when he was making a decision from greed or passion. We learn from Solomon that it is possible to know how to govern a nation; It is possible to know right from wrong and yet live a completely debauched lifestyle. Solomon gives us the example of what happens to a gifted man when he has untamed passions. Rehoboam gives us the example of what happens to a weak man who is driven to gain power, for he did not take the advise of the older men. Jeroboam gives us the example of what happens to a privileged man with an unteachable temperament.
Everyone needs rules to follow. Everyone needs a friend who will tell them when they are making a bad decision. I did not love my ex husband. My ex husband did not love me. I can say this because, neither one of us was willing to do what was best for the other. I denied him nothing. In my pursuit to try and please him, my choices led to a passion all my own, that I could not control. He did not look at me and see what was best for me. Together we walked into a lifestyle that was void of any restraints. So this is where it all went so wrong. Anything that we wanted, we felt we had a right to go out and do it. In our pursuit for our own evil desires, we never once opened up to an older person and tried to take their advise. We were both very privileged people. God had given us both gifts, that we were abusing. In all three of these kings, I can see my life. How did things go so wrong? I did not have any restraints on the pleasures that I pursued, I did not turn to an older person for advice (and take that advice over my own desires); I had an unteachable temperament of a privileged child.
Do not despise the person who is daring enough to come you, and tell you, when they see your life going off track. It takes a true friend to want to help you. Solomon was the only O.T. king who never had anyone to help him with his moral decisions. In all of his wisdom in helping other people, he could not see himself truthfully. He relied on himself, and this was his downfall. "Meaninglessness does not come from experiencing pain; it comes from experiencing pleasure." Do not live a meaningless life. If you see me going off track, be a friend to me, stop me, correct me. For even when we are trying our best to live a good life, we can still be blind to our own faults. I still make many mistakes, but this time I have surrounded myself with others who love me enough to correct me. I have also learned that those little secrets that I do not want to bring to light, they are the ones that will ultimately destroy me. Are you living with power that you are abusing? Have you got passions that are untamed? Have you got a temperament that is unteachable? What has God been trying to say to you?
Psalm 84, "When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs, where pools of blessing collect after the rains!... A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else! I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked. For the Lord God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right. O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, what joy for those who trust in you."
(Taken from Ravi Zacharias "Lessons from Royalty" http://www.rzim.org/USA/Resources/Listen/JustThinking.aspx?archive=1&pid=1536)
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