Another Generation

I am incredibly fascinated by the story of Solomon. He isn’t the first person, a he’s certainly not the last person to get blessed and then let his blessings get to his head and wild out, but my goodness does his life tell a story,

I recently watched something and at the heart of it’s message was this, a man urging this next generation to learn from the mistakes he’d made, yes we’d make our own, but please let us learn from the experience of those before us so we don’t have to go through unnecessary pain.

David was a man after God’s heart, he lived a life in honour of God, was humble, but like all men, David made his mistakes, in fact Solomon was a byproduct of one of David’s mistakes. No wonder then David brought up Solomon to be so aware of his mortality and to always recognise that all he had could only come from God.

In fact while announces to all the leaders of the 12 tribes that Solomon would be king, David emphasised Solomon’s inexperience;

“Furthermore King David said to all the assembly: “My son Solomon, whom alone God has chosen, is  young and inexperienced; and the work is great, because the temple is not for man but for the Lord God.”

1 Chronicles 29:1

In fact, as a son, following in the footsteps of his father I can only imagine how embarrassing it may feel to stand next to your father, while he tells a room full of people that, ‘you’ll lead, but you’re not ready for the task you’re about to undertake.’ David however, was sowing a seed, he was building a mentality in Solomon of total dependence on God. I believe that it is because of how his father trained him that when God appeared to Solomon and offered him anything he wanted, he had the humility to ask for wisdom. You only ask for wisdom, if you’re wise enough to know you lack it. I used to be very fascinated by philosophy and one of my favourite quotes growing up was the Socrates Paradox;

“All I know is that I know nothing.”

That was Solomon’s mentality coming into kingship, because David was intent that Solomon learn from his mistakes. But don’t worry Solomon would make his own mistakes, because he let the hype get to his head. I mean, read the book of Ecclesiastes, he thought so highly of himself.

“I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards. I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove. I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds.
So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.”

Ecclesiastes 2:4-9

Solomon started to see himself as the architect of his success. And slowly he begun to turn his face from God and to the pleasures of the world. There is good reason to why the bible says you can’t serve two masters, either you love one or hate the other. You can’t face two directions at once. First it was a small compromise but eventually what happens is Solomon is just creating the appearance of following God but he really had his back to Him and was following other gods.

“So the Lord became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the Lord had commanded. Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.”

1 Kings 11:9-11

Solomon let himself get distracted and he stopped following God earnestly. He had to learn from experience what his father urged him to learn from him. And after all his pride and arrogance, after all his feeding of his flesh, this was Solomon’s takeaway;

“Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them.

I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure,

For my heart rejoiced in all my labor;

And this was my reward from all my labor.

Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done

And on the labor in which I had toiled;

And indeed all was  vanity and grasping for the wind.

There  was no profit under the sun.”

Ecclesiastes 2:10-11

The things of this world they all amount to nothing, “All is vanity.” You can have it all, all the worlds riches but it it doesn’t all glorify God it is nothing.. To summarise Ecclesiastes 2:18-19, ‘You could amass all the riches and it will be inherited by the one who comes after you and who knows if it would be a fool.” I mean that’s how David must have felt, he toiled to provide all Solomon would need to build the temple, both in resources and in mentality and he squandered it all.

The overall lesson from Solomon is this, “do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31) God sees the heart, so don’t let your acts of righteousness be religious, because it doesn’t fool Him and lastly, satisfying the flesh only leads to destruction.

“Do not be overly righteous,

Nor be overly wise:

Why should you destroy yourself?

Do not be overly wicked,

Nor be foolish:

Why should you die before your time?”

Ecclesiastes 7:16-17