Monday, July 18
Don’t fall at the finish
Scripture: 2 Chronicles 9-10, John 18
2 Chronicles 9:29 The remaining events of Solomon’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the Events of the Prophet Nathan, the Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and the Visions of the Seer Iddo concerning Jeroboam son of Nebat.
Observation
The Chronicler paints a glowing picture of Solomon’s reign, his wisdom and wealth and splendor. He concludes with this summary in verse 29 about “the remaining events of Solomon’s reign” which were written in other accounts, but he chooses not to include. What were those events?
They are found in 1 Kings 11 where we’re told that Solomon loved many foreign women who turned his heart from the Lord.
1 Kings 11:4 When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away to follow other gods. He was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his father David had been.
Solomon built altars to these foreign gods and offered worship. The wisest man on earth committed the ultimate foolishness: idolatry. He abandoned God to worship idols. It is a stunning reversal. Immense wealth, wisdom and splendor followed by disobedience and idolatry. And it resulted in the kingdom being divided under his son’s reign, and the long slow story of Israel’s and Judah’s unfaithfulness and destruction.
Application
“When Solomon was old…”. He fell at the finish.
Very few of the Biblical heroes finished well. The same is often true today and through history. I don’t want to be one of those! I don’t want it said of me, “When Joe was old, his heart turned away from the Lord.”
Pastor Josh told us yesterday that idolatry is when we take a good thing and make it ultimate. Or in Solomon’s case, he took some bad things and made them ultimate. But either way, good or bad, it’s when our heart turns away from the Lord as the Ultimate, and we give the highest place to someone or something else.
It made me think about my idols. What holds highest place in my heart? What is my ultimate? What are the things that I make more important than the Lord? And how are those things affecting my thoughts and behavior?
I feel like Solomon—not that I’m so wise, but that I’ve been so richly blessed in so many ways. But I don’t want his ending. I don’t want to fall at the finish. I want to finish well. I want my heart to be fully God’s…all the way to the finish line!
Prayer: Lord, help me finish well. Let my last lap be my best! Let my heart be fully Yours—always. Show me when I’m making something else my ultimate; tear down my idols.