As I have mentioned, the writer of Kings wrote during the Babylonian exile after the destruction of Jerusalem. He compiled the history that you have read over the last three months to answer the question: “How did we get here?” The answer, to summarise, is that the people failed to entrust themselves to God. They always found themselves drawn into the lifestyles and pursuits of the nations around them. Solomon is seen by the writer as the man whose individual life prophetically pre-empted the sad trajectory of his people. He began with great potential, blessed and equipped by God, but he used his blessings and his abilities to do exactly what everyone else was doing in the ancient world. He was drawn into serving the ambitions that every king served in the ancient Near East. The fact that he ended up worshipping their gods is just an indication of this. As a result of his independent ambitions Solomon ended up sabotaging the very kingdom he sought to build. This is what happened, broadly speaking, to the nation of Israel as a whole, and it is what happens to all those who take God’s blessings to use for their own agendas. God has blessed and equipped you. What will be the pattern of your life? Will you end up like Israel and Judah, ruined and alienated from God or will you live like Hezekiah and Josiah whose reigns had such a wonderful impact on the generations after them. The choice is yours.
Commit yourself to walk with God and trust him today.
Read Proverbs 3:1-5
