How many churches have become monuments to men instead of sanctuaries of God? How far we have come across the centuries that we act just like Saul did here. Pretending to do the will of God but really only doing the will of the flesh; dressed up with pseudo-piety:
When Samuel finally found him, Saul greeted him cheerfully. "May the Lord bless you," he said. "I have carried out the Lord 's command!" "Then what is all the bleating of sheep and goats and the lowing of cattle I hear?" Samuel demanded. "It's true that the army spared the best of the sheep, goats, and cattle," Saul admitted. "But they are going to sacrifice them to the Lord your God. We have destroyed everything else." -- 1Samuel 15: 13-15 (NLT)
In Saul's mind he had carried out the commands of the Lord even though he clearly had not! How it still goes today! We have Pastors thinking they are doing the will of the Lord even though it is in contradiction with His Word. The Gospel of Jesus Christ being compromised for the alleged purpose of advancing the Kingdom! Even when they are called on their own hypocrisy they defend it like Saul tries here. He provides a reason for disobeying God! It is a religious reason filled with the wisdom of man. It is just like today when we hear modern day King Sauls explain that they compromise the Gospel in order to reach people for Christ! Their desire for position and worldly success has blinded them to their own sin just as Achan's greed blinded him from his sin. When you reach people with a compromised Gospel you deliver them unto a compromised God! Their salvation will not be real! This is not a game. I hear people defend their favorite televangelists and prosperity preachers by saying that some followers come to a real relationship with Christ through their efforts. Granted; if you preach to 20,000 people per week, some may eventually get saved for real and develop a real relationship with God but for each one of those there could be a thousand who think they are saved but are not. People who have placed their hopes in the man who speaks of God but not God Himself. Placing our hope in any man leads to only one road:
"You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. -- Matthew 7: 13-14 (NLT)
Sometimes we read these Scriptures and we think that those people on the broad highway to hell are the unsaved but remember Jesus says that not all who say "Lord Lord" will enter the Kingdom of God! We use the wrong metrics for measuring success in the church. We use worldly measurements such as attendance. Rob Bell had over 10,000 followers before he jumped off the theological cliff into the abyss of worldly love over God. The highway to hell is broad because there are so many choose to take it. The stairway to heaven however is very narrow and the road to it is very difficult and because so; few truly find it.
Then God showed me that it is not just greed and power that lead good Christians astray. It can also be the insidious infringement of human wisdom and logic over long periods of service to God. King Solomon is often regarded as the wisest man who ever lived, despite having 1000 wives and concubines. God offered Solomon anything he wanted and he chose wisdom to rule the people of Israel. Out of all of the carnal desires of our hearts, Solomon chose wisdom and here was the response from God:
God said to Solomon, "Because your greatest desire is to help your people, and you did not ask for wealth, riches, fame, or even the death of your enemies or a long life, but rather you asked for wisdom and knowledge to properly govern my people-- I will certainly give you the wisdom and knowledge you requested. But I will also give you wealth, riches, and fame such as no other king has had before you or will ever have in the future!" -- 2Chronicles 1: 11-12 (NLT)
What is our greatest desire today beloved? Is it focused on wealth and fame? Is it inwardly focused on selfish desires? Is it outwardly focused on the needs of others? Is it upwardly focused on God and His will? The latter is where our desires should be. The second is admirable but the first is unfortunately where a lot of us would be if we were being honest. But as great as Solomon started, he too like Saul before him would not stay consistent over the lifetime of his rule. As with most falling away -- it started with disobedience:
Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh's daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. The Lord had clearly instructed the people of Israel, "You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.' Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the Lord .In Solomon's old age, they turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the Lord his God, as his father, David, had been. Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. In this way, Solomon did what was evil in the Lord 's sight; he refused to follow the Lord completely, as his father, David, had done. -- 1Kings 11: 1-6 (NLT)
We read these sad turn of events and we think that maybe Solomon just had Samson like issues with lust or maybe he just had Saul like issues with pride but that barely scratches the surface. Solomon led Israel to one of the greatest periods of peace and prosperity it had ever seen. When Solomon would make peace with another country, he would usually take a daughter from that land to marry. Joining the two countries if you will in agreement and peace. I am sure it made perfect sense from a human standpoint. I am sure it was logical and since God often speaks about living in peace, I assume Solomon was even able to convince himself that it was the right thing to do. I am sure he remembered that David was not allowed to build the temple for God because he was a man of war. However, as we see here in these verses it was these women that led Solomon away from the one true God. It was this disobedience that would lead to the splitting of Israel into two portions -- Judah and the 12 Northern Tribes (Israel) until Israel was scattered by the Assyrian Empire and Judah was taken into captivity by Babylon.
1
1
1
