Solomon did evil in the Lord’s sight; he did not remain loyal to the Lord, like his father David had. Furthermore, on the hill east of Jerusalem Solomon built a high place for the detestable Moabite god Chemosh and for the detestable Ammonite god Milcom. He built high places for all his foreign wives so they could burn incense and make sacrifices to their gods.
The Lord was angry with Solomon because he had shifted his allegiance away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him on two occasions and had warned him about this very thing, so that he would not follow other gods. But he did not obey the Lord’s command.
(I Kings 11:6-10)
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I’ve been thinking about this concept, shifting allegiance away from the Lord, not remaining loyal to the Lord, or not obeying his command.
And the constant refrain throughout Hebrew scriptures then contrasts this sort of behavior, with David, who was true to the Lord, and followed him wholly.
I had one main realization,
That the presence of sin isn’t what makes us disloyal to the Lord
We’re all going to sin in this life, we’re in the midst of a battle.
On one hand we have died and were raised with Christ, and we’re new creations.
But there is still the shadow of the old self that seeks to draw us back to the old life.
I know this is especially true for me, as I’ve only been walking with Jesus a few years now and came out of an incredibly rebellious and sinful background.
But it isn’t when I mess up that I’m not remaining loyal to God
It’s when I fail to repent
I tell people all the time, the Hebrew for repent is literally, ‘To return home.’
It isn’t that Solomon took all the wives and concubines and turned his heart to foreign ‘detestable’ gods
It’s that he failed to repent
And it isn’t that David didn’t sin, it’s that he repented when he did
(Read Psalm 51)
The second thing I realized is that at the root of non-repentance is pride
I either don’t think I need to repent,
Don’t care enough about the harmed relationship (with a person or with God) to mend it
I’m too prideful to admit sin
Or the one that is most common with me is, Grace is really hard to accept.
Knowing that my Heavenly Father is waiting eagerly for my return home
Is painful.
Lord please allow me the power of your spirit to come home, to accept grace, and to not be too ashamed to admit broken areas in my heart. Help me to make a habit of repentance in all areas of my life. And to seek to live up to my new position in Christ.
-Sam
Sixty-six books in a year 