The Story: Solomon - Throwing God's Blessings Away

Focus: 1Kings 1-11, 2 Chron. 1-9

Solomon’s annual income was 25 tons of gold a year and the riches were all around him. He sat on an ivory throne overlaid with gold, received tribute from kings and merchants and drank from goblets made of gold. He was so rich that silver had almost no value in the days of Solomon. Yet it was all thrown away in a generation. The kingdom would be torn in two. The riches would disappear and the peace would never be seen again. Solomon had it all, but threw it away for lust of women and because he forgot the true God.
We forget how wealthy we really are and like Solomon, we are in the process of throwing it all away as we become a nation who is discarding God. Solomon is a lesson for us all.

A. If that wasn’t enough, God gave Solomon wisdom 1 Kings 3:12 God had blessed the nation during the time of David. It was the best time that any nation had seen. God had secured the throne for Solomon and comes to him and wants to give Solomon even more. Solomon in his wisdom asks for a discerning heart so that he might rule the people well. He wants to have a heart that know what the people need and will be a blessing to all of Israel. It takes a good king and makes him great.

B. There is more to come if you honor God 1 Kings 9:4-5 If that was not enough, God came later and was ready to offer even more. Solomon would be the beneficiary of all the promises that the Lord made to David. Yet there was a condition and that condition was obedience. Solomon needed to be a man like his father. He needed to be one who worshipped the Lord and led the people to follow their God and live with his values. Only a Godly nation could become the beacon that God had in mind.

C. Solomon began to turn away from God 1 Kings 11:4 It was lust that took Solomon away. He filled his life with women – 700 wives and 300 concubines from the nations that he conquered. He permitted these women to worship their own gods instead of insisting that they worship the Lord. Then he began to worship their gods with them because of his love for these women. Soon the nation followed his lead and God was not the center of the kingdom of Israel.

D. God began raised up rivals to turn Solomon back to faith 1 Kings 1 Kings 11:14 As Solomon forgot God, God began to send rivals from the surrounding kingdoms to cause Solomon and the people pain. The rivals were to lead the nation to call upon the name of the Lord as they had in the days of the Judges. Yet, nothing seemed to work. Solomon had forgotten the true God and sold his soul to his many wives and their gods. Camelot was over because of the unfaithfulness of David’s son and heir.

According to the book of Ecclesiastes, forgetting God made life meaningless for Solomon. He had wealth, power, and wisdom; but it meant nothing. He pursued one pleasure after another, but it only left him empty. Such was life without God. It was a life of having everything but it was all a waste. Take away God and nothing else really matters. Yet the same book shares Solomon’s wise answer to it all. If you want to have a joyful life, be content with what you have and thank the Lord for it all. Don’t just wish for food, be thankful that God made you so you can taste it. Don’t chase the created things, live in relationship to the creator. Real joy comes in having a relationship with God and in the knowledge that you and I have a heavenly Father who will keep on giving.