Should Have

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

SHOULD HAVE

1 Kings 11:9-13

9 The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD's command. 11 So the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. 12 Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen."

NIV

Why did Solomon come so close to the LORD, having had the LORD visit him twice, and still get so distracted because of the influence of his wives that the LORD became angry with him? When the LORD spoke to Solomon about his attitude, we wonder if he had repented, then all would have been well. Apparently, Solomon did not repent but doubled down on his attitude because he had not kept the covenant God made with him or God’s decrees. So much for the wisest man who ever lived. Wealth and power went to his heart instead of his steadfast devotion to the LORD; he served detestable, man-made gods of his own wives, who were also detestable in the eyes of the LORD. Yet even though the LORD was going to tear the kingdom from Solomon, the LORD’s compassion allowed Solomon to live out his life as king. The LORD could have taken the kingdom away from Solomon in an instant, making him a pauper, losing everything. The LORD could have put to death all of Solomon’s wives and destroyed any high place Solomon had built for any detestable god. Repentance could have brought peace in the heart of God toward Solomon, but there was neither repentance nor peace. What do we learn from this story of the LORD’s anger with Solomon? In some sense, we are no better than Solomon, in that we still have sin in our lives. We have not just had a visit or two from the Lord, but the Holy Spirit dwells within us, which means we have a consistent visit from the Lord. He is always with us, yet we turn and look toward our own interests, perhaps what could be considered a form of a god. But even if we get impatient with someone, lose our temper, become envious, or become prideful, we know we have to repent, change the way we think, and just be still, because we know He is Lord. We know that Jesus took all our sins upon himself, that is, all our past sins, present sins, and future sins, but that should not give us the right to sin just because we want to, or ignore His commands or decrees. However, our flesh is weak, and we will fail, but we can never turn away from our Lord. We hope that no god of this world will ever influence us and cause us to lose sight of the truth. Solomon lost track of the truth of God; we cannot allow that to happen in our lives. Lord, help us not stray from the path you have laid out before us, and always keep our eyes on your light, listening to your voice, following your ways, being attentive to the guidance and leading of the Spirit. We could say that Solomon should have repented; let us ensure we never have to say, we should have.