Tuesday, May 26, 2009

May 27

Solomon's Glory Fades - 1 Kings 11:1-40

"The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice." 1 Kings 11:9

How sad and how hard to imagine.  A man universally admired for his wisdom and given wisdom from God, a man who the Lord of heaven appeared to twice, not only turns away but turns to other gods.  How does that happen?  How does a man see God...twice...and walk away?  Did he do it out of love for his wives?  I'm sure he did.  And did he rationalize it because he was doing it out of love?  Did the great Solomon fear conflict?  Tried to avoid it and so rationalized his marriage to foreign women.  

Like all of us, perhaps Solomon's greatest strength was also his greatest weakness.  Did he become too sure of his own ability to think and did he begin to use his blessed brain to rationalize and justify what he wanted to do?  There is a point at which I don't think knowledge no longer aids belief.  Because belief requires more than knowledge.  It also requires faith.  It requires things beyond our control and outside of our own mind and, for those who rely totally on their own mind, I don't think they're able to see or understand.  No matter how smart they are.  

I know I've said it before, but I think we tend to over-intellectualize our faith.  Our IQ doesn't save us.  Jesus does.  It's not what we know.  It's who we know.  Lord knows.

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