Author: admin

Our world is largely driven by profit. We constantly measure our gain for having invested ourselves in various labor. If there is little profit, then our activity was wasted.

We invest a great amount of our time in labor. If we spend eight hours a day at work, week after week, year after year until we retire at 65, then thousands of hours will be spent in the pursuit of a paycheck. Parents spend countless hours raising their children. It is mind numbing to calculate the number of hours we put in to such mundane tasks as waiting in line, or putting fuel in our vehicle, or watching commercials. Our time is valuable, yet we waste many hours of it every week.

The writer of Ecclesiastes stopped and took time to reflect on life. Some of his conclusions troubled him! He realized that much of what he was investing himself in possessed no long-term value. Buildings he constructed would eventually be torn down. The companies he started would one day be sold or liquidated. Relationships he cultivated might come to an end. His career, though brilliant, would inevitably culminate in retirement. His health, carefully nurtured, would ultimately decline. Every solitary thing he was investing his life in would eventually deteriorate and come to an end. Except one. God’s activity would last for eternity. The earth, with all of God’s work, would outlast its inhabitants.

Perspective is crucial to a healthy, productive life. Unfortunately some people don’t take a long, hard look at their life until it is almost over. They mindlessly keep plugging away at the same temporal pursuits, even though they inevitably lead to disappointment.

It is crucial that we examine our lives now and make sure that what we are spending it on, matters, and will last.

There are moments in life when it seems inevitable that we become a cynic. People let us down. The investment we made comes to not. Our hopes are not realized. Our dreams fail to materialize. On certain days we can feel as if everything into which we invest results only in disappointment.

The truth is that life is temporal and fleeting. Though advertisers zealously attempt to make us feel that by acquiring the right car or house or vacation we will experience a joy-filled, meaningful life, we are inevitably disappointed. Despite being encouraged to climb as high as we can on the corporate ladder, we eventually discover that our worldly success is not deeply satisfying and eventually, we must retire.

Sadly, millions of people find life to be nothing more than a vapor. Despite all of their efforts, nothing they do seems to last, or matter.

The reality is that God and His work are the only things that last, or truly matter. When we align ourselves with Him, we invest ourselves in an eternal kingdom. When we place our faith in God, we know that what He began, He will complete. God’s purposes will be accomplished!

Have you been disappointed lately? Have you grown cynical? What is it you have been investing your life in to?

Jeroboam arose as a consequence of Solomon’s sin. The king had turned his heart away from God. His love of women had stolen his loyalty to God. As a result, God raised up enemies to plague the prodigal monarch. Jeroboam had been the chief overseer of the king’s labor for the tribe of Joseph. The northern tribes had felt exploited by the king’s extensive construction projects. Under Solomon’s son Rehoboam, they would ultimately rebel and the nation of Israel would be torn asunder.

Solomon’s response to God’s discipline was to attempt to kill his enemies! God had sent this discipline, but rather than yielding to it and repenting of his sin, Solomon attempted to eliminate God’s tool of punishment. Of course this was futile. What God intends cannot be stopped. The divine consequences for our sin are unavoidable. Better to humbly accept God’s word and face our consequences, than to fight back and resist God’s redemptive activity in our lives.

If God has brought you through a difficult season of life, let Him explain to you what His purposes are. If it is a consequence of your sinful leadership, then accept God’s word on the matter and immediately repent and make adjustments in your life and leadership. God’s judgment will not go away, regardless of how vehemently you resist it.

God’s discipline upon wayward children can increase in its frequency and severity. If raising up one adversary is not enough to lead us to repentance of our sin,then God may well add a second or third opponent. God has an unlimited number of means to discipline us and to draw us back to Himself.

Each enemy of Solomon was unique and offered singular challenges. They were also scattered throughout the region so that it was difficult to take them all on at once. Some were in the north, others to the south. Solomon’s enemies also avoided direct confrontation with him, so they nibbled away at the edges of his empire. As a result, Solomon had to remain ever vigilant to how he might be attacked or usurped. This lack of peace was not the blissful living God had intended for the monarch. Yet God refused to leave Solomon in peace after the king chose to forsake his God.

If we are not careful, we can miss what God is saying to us through our times of opposition. We may feel that we are merely going through a difficult season of challenges. But the truth may be that God is increasing the severity of His discipline upon us until our hearts return to Him.

Do you have people who are opposing you? Be careful. They may be from God.

One of the most effective ways for God to discipline us is to raise up people who oppose us. As long as we can sin and yet live our lives unmolested, we are not always motivated to reform our ways. But when we face relentless and hostile opposition, it often reminds us of our dependence upon God.

God had promised Solomon that as long as he walked in God’s ways, God would be his defender. God was true to His word. Because the nation of Israel experienced peace, it was able to prosper. Rather than spending its wealth on war, the people of Israel enjoyed prosperity. But when Solomon’s heart turned away from God, God allowed enemies to oppose Israel. Opposition continued to increase in intensity in order to capture the wayward king’s attention, but to no avail.

Are there people who are presently opposing you? God may have raised them up against you. Or, God may have withdrawn His hand of protection. Either way, you would be foolish to attempt to combat them in your own strength. God wants you to rely upon Him exclusively. Hurriedly make your way to Him and trust in His deliverance.

God is patient and full of grace. Yet He will invariably and thoroughly deal with our sin. Solomon was only the third king to rule over the nation of Israel. He was the first descendent of the exalted King David. Yet no manner of pedigree or previous generations of faithfulness could prevent God from bringing judgment upon the wayward monarch.

God dealt so thoroughly with Solomon that by the time He was finished meting out His punishment, only one tribe remained for the wayward ruler’s descendent. The divided kingdom would become vulnerable to invaders and aggressive neighbors. Both halves would eventually come to ruin. Solomon’s legacy of sin would be devastating.

Yet just as one man’s sin would bring centuries of grief, so one man’s faithfulness would bring blessing for years afterward. Because of David’s faithfulness to God, even his son Solomon’s sin could not completely eradicate God’s blessing. God would leave a portion of the nation in the hands of David’s descendants because of David’s faithfulness.

What we do in our life has lasting consequences, for good or for bad. Your walk with God will impact people for years to come.

To whom much has been given, much is expected. Solomon had been given much. More than wealth and wisdom, God had met with him personally. Such a divine encounter ought to have forever transformed the king’s life. Yet not only did Solomon renege on his promises, he ultimately indulged in the most abominable sin of all: idolatry.

The gods Solomon chose to support were not innocuous tooth fairy like deities. These were the most heinous and vile of all the local gods. These idols promoted gross sin and the most licentious immorality. They could not have been more diametrically opposed to the values and standards of the true God. It was supremely insulting to God to be forsaken for such despicable gods.

The high places consisted of worship centers on hilltops that dotted the land. Building altars and temples in such elevated locations led people to believe they were closer to the gods. Jerusalem is surrounded by hills. Solomon would have been able to view the high places from his palace. The king had built the impressive temple close to his own home. Yet he negated that fete by constructing pagan altars on the mountains that surrounded the temple. Every day Solomon gazed up at the pagan worship centers he had built in defiance of God’s commands. Yet so hardened had his heart become that he remained unmoved. Have you allowed high places to remain in your life? Have you surrounded yourself with false gods?

To God, the greatest sin we can commit is idolatry. He devoted several of the Ten Commandments to that issue. One would think that murder or adultery might be as heinous or more so. But that is not so.

That is because our life and behavior flow out of our walk with God. When our loyalty to God wanes, we are vulnerable to every sin. David committed both adultery and murder, yet God declared that he was loyal to God. That is because, though David sinned abominably, his love for God always drove him back to repent and to return to God. But when our heart becomes captive to other gods, then we become estranged from the one Person who could save us.

Once Solomon’s heart went after other gods, no amount of prophecy or warnings could deter him. His heart became calloused and insensitive to divine promptings.David, though he sinned greatly, always had a heart that could be drawn back to God. As a result, David never strayed too far or for too long.

You might feel pleased that you have followed God for many years. Yet that will not matter if your heart is being drawn to other gods.

One would think that as we get older, we would also become wiser. But that is not always the case. Sometimes we grow more careless. Though we should know full well the dangers of breaking God’s commands, we can wane in our enthusiasm to follow the Lord.

Some of this might stem from weariness. We may have followed the Lord with all of our heart for many years. Yet now we are tired and, in our exhaustion, we grow careless. Or perhaps we have become cynical. After years of doing things the correct way, we may have been wounded by others or frustrated at people’s sinful behavior. Suddenly we find ourselves committing the same offenses. Or, perhaps after years of successful leadership, we begin to assume we are invincible, or beyond the possibility of falling in to sin. That is when we are most vulnerable.

You would think that you would naturally grow more loyal over time. But that is not true. Having followed someone for a long time, we can take our commitment for granted. Solomon probably never consciously chose to drift from God. He did so out of neglect and carelessness. Are you as loyal or more so to God today than you were five years ago? Are you sure?

Everyone expects that a king will enjoy the best of what his nation can produce. No one is surprised when leaders enjoy the benefits of their labors. But the great danger is to refuse to be satisfied short of excess.

Ancient kings often demonstrated their wealth and prestige by accumulating many wives as well as a large harem. This was considered standard fare for that day. Sadly, Solomon eagerly embraced the secular standards of his time. More than that, he took them to unprecedented levels.

One might have thought that several wives, as his father David had collected, might have satisfied him. But Solomon married 700, plus an additional 300 concubines. Clearly this was not due to a need on Solomon’s part. No one needs 700 wives! Rather it represented supreme indulgence. Because he could have it, he did have it. It would be in this area of personal excess that the great king would stumble badly.

There is a reason that God urges moderation upon his people. Extravagance can be deadly. It distracts us from what truly matters. Our heart cannot fully love God while being bombarded with a multitude of distractions. Whenever you find that your possessions and relationships own you, rather than you owning them, beware!