A good beginning doesn’t guarantee a good end. Israel’s first three kings – Saul, David, and Solomon – all learned that lesson the hard way. If we’re smart, we’ll learn from their failures rather than making the same mistakes ourselves.
Solomon got off to a great start. When God said He would give him anything he wanted, Solomon asked for wisdom. He wanted to be a good king. He wanted to follow God’s leading. He didn’t want to make the same mistakes his father had made. So God not only gave him wisdom, but also riches and fame. And even a beautiful wife that he loved deeply. What more could he want?
Well… how about a second wife. And then a third. Then a fourth. Until the day he added wife number 700. Seriously! And if that foolishness wasn’t enough, he had an additional 300 concubines, women who weren’t his wives but who were there simply for him to have sex with. And all of those women turned his heart away from God. Little by little Solomon drifted into a life that was centered on himself instead of God.
Solomon’s fall didn’t happen over night like it had for his father. King David had a whole heart for God. He was walking closely with God until one night when he saw Bathsheba bathing on the roof. David wanted Bathsheba. David took Bathsheba. And nothing was the same after that.
With Solomon, his fall came slowly. He drifted away from God and His ways, little by little. One rationalization at a time. One small sin at a time. Until he ended up in a place he never dreamed he would go. Eventually, as an old man Solomon realized that all the women and wealth and fame that he had gathered had left him empty inside. And that’s when he remembered that God’s way was much better than the sinful selfish ways he had drifted into.
Don’t miss the lesson that we can learn from David and Solomon. Sometimes sin hits us smack in the face. We’re tempted by something big and we have to make a choice. Do we give in to sin or do we follow God’s way and say no to sin?
But sometimes sin sneaks up on us. It’s subtle. It’s small. It’s some little thing that’s easy to rationalize. It’s not a big deal, right? But be careful. Those little seemingly insignificant sins can cause you to drift away from God until you end up somewhere you never dreamed you would go.
Proverbs 30:7-9
“Two things I ask of you, O LORD; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.