Jesus Christ is the only one that can satisfy us and fill us up until we are overflowing.
Yesterday we left off with King Solomon dedicating the Temple to God. In today's chapter God comes to King Solomon, tells him of the blessing that will come to him for keeping HIS commandment, and the curse for not keeping them. We are then told of King Solomon's amazing wealth, then sadly we are left off with King Solomon's disobedience and death to have his son; Rehoboam to succeed him as king.
King Solomon had 700 wives (11:3) the fact that he had so many wives was not looked down upon. Marriage was a tool of diplomacy throughout the ancient Near East. The fact that these women turned him away from The LORD is looked down upon.
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| Aqaba |
This is a picture of modern day Aqaba. In biblical times, there were two cities in this area: Elath and Ezion Geber. King Solomon establishes a port in this area. (9:26-28) King Solomon had his ships sail to Ophir and return back with Gold. The picture was taken from Bibleplaces.com.
Scripture Reading
Solomon Turns from the LORD 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, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and did not wholly follow the LORD, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.
The LORD Raises Adversaries
And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the LORD commanded. Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. - I Kings 11:1-11 ESV
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Think n Grow
God had given Solomon amazing wealth during his reign. If you read today's chapters it points out some of King Solomon's possessions. In verse 10:14 it tells how Solomon received 666 Talents of Gold yearly. That equates to 25 TONS of gold a year! Silver was used so much it had no value (10:21) he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses (10:26) The Bible tells us that King Solomon was greater in riches than all the other kings on earth. (10:23) He had women at his call, 700 wives and 300 concubines (11:3) Yes, King Solomon had it ALL!!
Here is the sad part, with all his riches, women, and fame that the LORD had given him, Solomon still wanted more. Even with ALL his wisdom, he disobeyed God and had his kingdom torn away from him. (11:11)
There is a Self Storage Association that monitors self storage units in the US. The self storage business is a 22.6 billion dollar business. As a country we own 1.9 billion sq. feet of storage space outside of our homes. There are 51,223 storage facilities in the US. 1 out of every 10 homes rents a storage unit. Now here is the interesting part, the average sq. footage of a home in 1973 was 1,400 sq. ft., in the year 2004 it was 2,400 sq. ft. So even with the increase in the size of our homes, we still can't fit all of our stuff into our homes.
We need to take a lesson from King Solomon, even if GOD gave you all the riches of Solomon, they would leave you wanting more and feeling empty. Jesus Christ is the only one that can satisfy us and fill us up until we are overflowing.
Closing Prayer
Dear Jesus
Father please fill me up today. Let me feel Your overflowing love fill the depths of my emptiness. Father I pray then that I will use that overflowing of peace, joy and happiness and love others around me and be happy with all the blessings You have given me. Father I pray that I can do a little house cleaning this week and clear out all of the junk I have stored, in my garage and in my heart.
I love You and I pray,
Amen.
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