2017 Recording:
It is often said that King Solomon's wisdom was unprecedented. Yet, Solomon, with all his wisdom, was deluded and walked the path of wickedness! Consequently, the Kingdom of Israel declined from its peak! This is truly terrifying! In this chapter, the teacher will reveal how to be vigilant lest we be deceived!
Questions for Reflection:
What did Solomon do that offended God? How could a king who was once full of wisdom and revered God commit such acts that angered Him?
How can we guard ourselves from falling into delusion and straying from God's path?
Since Solomon offended God, why did God preserve one tribe for him (verse 32)? What does this reveal about the nature of God?
What lessons can we learn from Solomon's sinful history and apply to our lives today?
Pray Constantly, Read God's Word, and Avoid Delusion
After reading 1 Kings chapter 11, you may have some doubts: how could someone as capable as Solomon be so easily deceived? In fact, guarding God's path is not a simple matter. Solomon, the epitome of human wisdom, was still deluded, let alone us. So, the question we need to address is: how can we avoid delusion?
Actually, Jesus Christ came into this world to solve this problem. Jesus said: Pray always, that you may not enter into temptation. Prayer is the key to avoiding delusion. Also, we must read God's word regularly. If you read God's word regularly, your spirit will be vigilant. In Matthew, Jesus said, Could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. (Matthew 26:40-41). What is vigilance? Vigilance means that the thoughts in your mind are not chaotic, but very clear, knowing what the devil's traps are. When did Solomon start to lose his clarity? It started when he became arrogant. He thought he could not be deceived, and that marrying foreign women was not a big deal. As a result, he married one foreign woman after another, from Ammonites and Moabites to Edomites and Sidonians, etc., and these foreign women gradually led Solomon into delusion.
We must pay attention: When are we most vulnerable to delusion? It is when we think we are not easily deceived. Therefore, we must be vigilant and pray so as not to fall into delusion. Sometimes our spirit is willing, but our flesh is weak. Solomon was willing in spirit, but weak in flesh. He wanted to marry any beautiful woman he saw. Didn't he know that marriage is a spiritual matter? Of course, he knew. But Solomon felt that he would never fall. Know that when a person thinks he will never fall, he will definitely fall. Delusion and falling begin there.
Before Jesus was crucified, Peter said to Jesus, Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will. What did Jesus say? He prophesied that Peter would deny him three times before the rooster crowed. What was the result? Just as Jesus said, Peter denied the Lord Jesus three times before the rooster crowed (see Matthew 26:31-35, 69-75). Know that the flesh is unreliable, and confidence is unreliable. In fact, Peter felt that there was no problem in his heart at that time, but when that moment came, the flesh was weak. It's like some brothers and sisters dropping the ball at critical moments: they usually feel that there is no problem, but when critical moments come, problems arise. So we must be careful not to deviate from God's path when we encounter temptations, and to be vigilant and read God's word often. When we read God's word, we will know that our flesh is unreliable, and we will be vigilant and pray often. Even if we pray often, we may still fall into delusion. If we don't pray, we will definitely fall into delusion.
Those who are deluded often feel very clear-headed and do not know that they are deluded. But you will know he is deluded after talking to him for a few words. A brother's classmate came to our church. After talking to him for a few words, we knew that he was very confused and deluded. For example, his requirement for his future wife was just that she would not cuckold him, and nothing else. What a chaotic idea! How can one be so careless in choosing a lifelong partner? Although I repeatedly told that classmate that he was confused, that classmate still insisted that he was very clear-headed. God wants us to be humble. When others say that we are confused, we should not blindly refuse, but examine ourselves to see if there is really a problem. Sometimes our minds are filled with rubbish, things that corrupt people, things that cannot allow us to live a beautiful life.
I feel sorry for that classmate. He said that he could not be sure what was right, so he had to try everything. This idea is really terrible. What if he encounters danger in the process of trying? Returning to Solomon, when he was deceived, he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. In the previous 1 Kings chapter 8, Solomon prayed to the Lord eloquently. How could he now begin to do what was evil in the eyes of the Lord? Don't be surprised, people are like this. When they do what the Lord considers evil, they don't even know it.
For example, some Christian boys have non-Christian girlfriends, and at first they say confidently: Pastor, don't worry, I will bring her to church. As a result, they are eventually led out of the church by their girlfriends. Once a person is deluded, he will become unclear. Do you know how God makes people clear-headed? God will raise up enemies to attack you. If a Christian reaches a situation of being besieged on all sides, you will know that you must have done what is evil in the eyes of the Lord. Don't argue, and don't think that God is testing you. Here God raised up Hadad the Edomite and Rezon the Aramean as adversaries to Solomon, but Solomon still did not know it until the prophet Ahijah prophesied that Jeroboam would take ten tribes from Solomon's hand. Only then did Solomon order the killing of Jeroboam, but it was too late. Therefore, we must always be vigilant and pray, and our minds must not be chaotic.
God's Heart Desires Our Return
When people think they cannot be deceived, they do what is evil in the eyes of Jehovah. Then your enemies are stirred up, and God gives the kingdom and blessings bestowed upon you to others. It is not that the other person behaves better, but that you behave evilly. Therefore, we must distance ourselves from evil deeds.
Even so, even when God takes away the blessings He has given us, He still hopes for our return: Yet I will not take away the entire kingdom, but will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen (1 Kings 11:13). We see a remarkable phenomenon: God especially remembers certain people and has mercy on their descendants because of them. I truly hope that our brothers and sisters will also become people remembered by God, blessing their descendants through their actions. Although David also stumbled, on the whole, David was a man after God's own heart. God left one tribe to Solomon's son for the sake of David and Jerusalem, which He had chosen, showing God's grace.
In fact, God always remembers and values those He delights in, and He also values the things He has promised them. We must know that because of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God has preserved Israel to this day, for this is the promise God made to the ancestors of Israel. David's descendants continued to reign because of God's promise, whether they were good or bad kings. In fact, God did not give these words of promise to David alone. We see that God also said the same words to Jeroboam: I will take you and you shall reign over Israel, and I will rule over all that your heart desires. If you listen to all that I command you, walk in my ways, and do what is right in my eyes, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as my servant David did, I will be with you and build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David, and I will give Israel to you (1 Kings 11:37-38). Jeroboam later became a laughingstock among the Israelites, leading them to worship idols. Yet even to such a person, a very bad king, God gave such a promise.
That is to say, whomever God chooses, He gives them wonderful promises, but the choice lies in our own hands. The key is how we choose to act in this world. In other words, if we do what is right in God's eyes, keep His statutes and commandments, as David did, God will be with us and build us a strong house. If you are the first in your family to be chosen and called by God's name, God will say this: If you listen to what I command you, walk in my ways, and do what is right in my eyes, keeping my statutes and my commandments, I will build you a strong house and give you your family. Do you see that? God will give you your family, your tribe, your nation; this is a great promise. In fact, God is always looking forward to giving you the most wonderful promises. But who can receive them? In fact, the promise is already there. What is preventing us from obtaining the promise?
Fear Hinders Us from Receiving Promises
There are three factors that hinder us from receiving promises: fear of the boss, fear of the wife, and fear of the people. Fear often hinders us from receiving grace and promises. Those who fear the wolf in front and the tiger behind cannot receive grace. We must emulate David, who feared nothing. When he was on the run, he was not afraid that his men would leave him or kill him, but he chose to fear God, and because of his fear of God, he spared his enemy Saul and did not kill him. This is David's most precious quality. If you fear your boss, your wife, your children, your people, even more than you fear Jehovah, you will not receive this promise. In fact, you do not need to be afraid at all, because God's promise is upon you, and God is with you wherever you are. Where does fear come from? It comes from human logic. Human logic makes people afraid, because when you rely on human logic, you cannot think of God's logic. In fact, people were not afraid before they had earthly knowledge, but they become afraid after they have it. So in this world, let us strive to do what we ought to do. Other things, we should resist the devil and the enemy without fear. Because when you are afraid, you cannot move forward.
If you think in your heart, God has already given me my family; if you engrave this thought deeply in your heart, will you still be afraid? Will you still be afraid of your husband or wife? When you are not afraid, God will surely give you your family. Solomon was also afraid of his wives. Before he married them, he did not think he would be afraid, but after he married them, he built palaces for his wives and altars for idols, doing what was evil in the eyes of Jehovah. Because of what Solomon did, God caused David's descendants to suffer, but not forever. That is to say, what you do will affect whether your descendants suffer or are blessed. If you want to leave the best inheritance for your descendants, start doing what David did, keeping and following God's way. God will have mercy on your descendants for your sake. I hope that each of our brothers and sisters will be like David, becoming a person after God's own heart, remembered by God.