Everything We Want?

 King Solomon is known as the wisest man to ever live.  We read that:

"The whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind." 1 Kings 10:24 (ESV) 

But perhaps the most important lesson we can learn from him is one we learn from his foolishness.  Let me explain.

The book of 1 Kings records the ascension of David's son Solomon to the throne of Israel.  He is chosen by God to build the Temple.  He is given supernatural wisdom from God.  He is rich beyond compare.  He expands the borders of Israel to their farthest reaches, and presides over the kingdom at it's peak.  Chapter 10 ends this way:

"Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold, besides that which came from the explorers and from the business of the merchants, and from all the kings of the west and from the governors of the land. King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold; 600 shekels of gold went into each shield. And he made 300 shields of beaten gold; three minas of gold went into each shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. The king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with the finest gold. The throne had six steps, and the throne had a round top, and on each side of the seat were armrests and two lions standing beside the armrests, while twelve lions stood there, one on each end of a step on the six steps. The like of it was never made in any kingdom. All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver; silver was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon. For the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the fleet of ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. And the whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind. Every one of them brought his present, articles of silver and gold, garments, myrrh, spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year."  1 Kings 10:14–25 (ESV)

Indeed, to him who had much, God gave even more, because Solomon sought God.

But then, in the very next chapter, we read this:

"Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love.  He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart." 
1 Kings 11:1-2 (ESV)

The wisest man in the world, who was blessed by God beyond compare - the writer of the book is careful to give details as to what Solomon had from the hand of God! - he had everything a person could ever want, and yet he wanted what he couldn't have.  He wanted what he knew God forbade.  What he had wasn't enough for him, and in his foolishness, he took more.  And we see how quickly everything changed for him!

Sound familiar?  A Garden... a tree... a piece of fruit... Another time that God gave everything a person could ever want - and yet we took more...

The point?  Some things never change.  And not our sinfulness, by God's grace, that can change.  No, I mean the fact that when we go beyond what God gives us and take more for ourselves, we are like Adam, and we are like Solomon.  We're fools of infinite measure.

Blessed of God, this is why Jesus went to the cross.  He gave up everything - literally - to give us everything we could ever need - literally.  The question for us on this side of the cross is: what do we want?  What God has given us?  Or what He hasn't?  

Imagine with me the blessing of wanting only what God has given us!  Because that would mean - literally - that we have everything we want! 

What do you want?





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