1 King 10-12

"As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done. On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods."

It's hard to believe that the above quote is about Solomon. The previous chapters that describe all the wisdom, wealth, and honor that God blessed him with is amazing beyond belief. And we learned earlier that God blessed him because he humbled himself in the beginning of his reign as king and asked God for nothing but wisdom. So how did Solomon end up falling away from God and worshiping other idols?

Solomon knew that God has commanded Israelites to not to intermarry with people of foreign nations, because they "will surely turn your hearts after their gods". Yet, that is exactly what he did.

I believe God is reminding me this day about the heart of men. Solomon, at some point, must have grown comfortable with his stature and his surroundings. He had all the wisdom, wealth, and honor that anyone can ever ask for. I'm sure, after a while, Solomon became proud and thought he was wise enough to avoid falling away from God. He must have thought, "It's okay. I got this. I have everything under control."

I am reminded of many times in my life when I'd convince myself that I am doing pretty good. I'm going to church, I'm reading God's word, I'm praying, etc. That's when I let my guard down and allow myself to go against God's word thinking that I can handle it. It usually starts out with a small thing (a little compromise here or there). And when I let that go unchecked and not repent of it, it almost always snowballs to a point where I become distant from God. (We must truly ask God to let us know what those "compromises" are in our lives. They are usually things we've convinced ourselves time and again of being harmless.)

With that said, praise God that he will never stop testing our hearts! He desires nothing other than for us to have hearts that are fully devoted to him and him alone. So let's shed our pride and lift up all our weakness this day (we must first truly realize that we are weak), and ask God for his power to keep our eyes fixed on him. There is no limit to what God can do and will do through those whose hearts are fully committed to him:)