We must ‘PRACTICE’ what we ‘PREACH’ to others!
April 10 Bible
Reading: 1 Kings Chapters 10-12
We must ‘PRACTICE’ what we ‘PREACH’ to others!
"So King Solomon surpassed all the
kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. Now all the earth sought the presence
of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. For it was so,
when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his
heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David.
Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord,
as did his father David" (1 Kings 10:23-24; 11:4, 6).
King Solomon
was the wisest king who ever lived on the face of this earth. When God blessed
Solomon at the start of his rule, it was actually a three-fold blessing: the blessing of a wise and understanding heart
(1 Kings 3:12), riches/honor (v. 13) and a long life (v. 14b). In fact, King
Solomon became the wealthiest and wisest king alive on the earth during his
time (1 Kings 10:23). He was so wise and rich, that the Queen of Sheba was
awestruck with the wisdom of Solomon, his grand palace, and everything that she
witnessed firsthand in his palace (1 Kings 10:1-5). She remarked that what she had heard was not even half of the
glory that she witnessed in Solomon’s kingdom (v. 6-7).
We know that
Solomon wrote about 3000 proverbs that instructed others to live in the fear of
God (Prov. 1:7), and concluded in the book of Ecclesiastes with these words: "Let us hear the conclusion of the
whole matter: fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all. For
God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether
good or evil" (Eccl 12:13-14).
However,
Solomon did not practice what he preached to others. When he was old, neither did
he fear God nor did he keep God’s commandments. The fatal error in his life was
that he loved many foreign women (1 Kings 11:1) who turned his heart after
other gods (v. 4). He developed heart
problems after turning to other gods through the influence of his foreign
wives. The result was that God became angry and displeased with Solomon to whom
he had appeared twice in person (v. 9). Solomon’s life ended in tragedy and
disillusionment, the united kingdom of Israel was torn apart by God and over
80% of Israel was gifted to his servant Jeroboam (vv.11-13). The one king who ‘had it all’ also ‘lost it
all’ towards the end of his life!
Let us be careful to practice what we preach in our own life. In this regard, we need to
check out the weak areas in our armor of faith – these may be the areas that
Satan can attack us if we are not alert. In Solomon’s case, it was his love for
foreign women and he allowed his lurid passion to overrule his God-given
wisdom. He loved these heathen women and married them probably hoping to influence them towards God. However, he got
influenced by them instead and that led to his downfall. Remember, if this can
happen to the wisest man who ever lived on this earth, this can easily happen to us as well – so let us be on our guard constantly to
practice what we preach to others!
"Be sober; be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith" (1 Peter 5:8-9).
