Detestable

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

DETESTABLE

1 Kings 11:1-8

11:1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter — Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods." Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done. 7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.  

NIV

To turn his heart toward detestable gods and not be fully devoted to the LORD was the end of the greatness of Solomon. He was led astray by his wives, who were not from Israel. The LORD forbade intermarriage, yet Solomon did not keep the LORD's commands; in fact, he built high places for all his wives so they could worship their detestable gods. From what we can see, Solomon did not even have a divided heart, but turned his heart away from the LORD, and followed those detestable gods.  We are warned about doing anything like following the way of anything detestable to the Lord. We should not even try to serve two masters, for we will either love the one or detest the other. Jesus used money when he taught that lesson, and perhaps that is the true meaning. If Jesus were right about using money as another master, and not just making reference to the way of the world, then it would be wrong, even detestable, for believers to put too much faith in the accumulation of wealth to secure their future retirement years. In putting our trust in money, it would almost be like turning our hearts toward another god, although we might try to live with a divided heart. We could say that we love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, but we also keep our minds and hearts focused on our financial future. How can this be? How can we allow anything to turn our hearts away from the Lord? Maybe other areas turn our hearts away from the Lord. Maybe good works or traditions, the way it has always been,  can turn our hearts. Those attitudes we want to keep, such as unforgiveness, envy, pride, rudeness, self-centeredness, and a host of other attitudes, could be a form of turning our hearts away from the Lord, and if that is so, then they would be detestable. Let us be careful not to turn from Him for any reason and serve anything detestable.