Shooting Ourselves in the Foot

We can learn a great deal from the latter stages of Solomon's life. Solomon was David's son who was one of the richest and wisest men in the world. He built God's temple and ruled Israel during a time of unprecedented peace and wealth creation. It was common during that period of time that when nations traded goods and services, they also offered their women as part of the deal. Solomon received hundreds of foreign women and loved about 1000 of them.

Knowing the softness of a man's heart for a woman, God specifically instructed the Israelites not to marry or be with foreign women because they will "surely" turn the Israelite men's hearts after their gods. As many of us know, men have a difficult time not being unduly influenced by women. Soon Solomon began building temples in honor of these "gods" to please his women despite God commanding him to discontinue these relationships.

God finally had enough and ripped Solomon's kingdom away from him by raising up adversaries. God eventually divided the kingdom into two...10 tribes to the north and 2 tribes to the south after Solomon's death.

As we look at this in the context of God's mission, we see that God expects us to finish as we started. If we don't because we moved away from him, he will simply let us go our own way and he will raise someone else to do his will. God's plan will not be held captive by any human being. If we become obstinate to His will for our lives, He will find someone else to carry out His plan and we lose out on the blessing that He freely gives to those who obey Him.