For it came to pass, when Solomon was old,
that his wives turned away his heart after
other gods: and his heart was not perfect
with the LORD his God, as was the heart
of David his father (I Kings 11:4). He was
such a disappointment to God!
God had given everything to Solomon. He
had blessed him with great wisdom, fame,
wealth and a reputation that spread across the
known world. The Queen of Sheba heard of
King Solomon’s fame, and she traveled from
a far country to see for herself if the rumors
were true. And she said to the king, It was
a true report that I heard in mine own
land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. Howbeit
I believed not the words, until I came,
and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold,
the half was not told me: thy wisdom and
prosperity exceedeth the fame which I
heard (I Kings 10:6,7). There was no other
kingdom as great as Solomon’s in the entire
world, but that all changed when he lost his
dedication to the Lord.
Be Careful Who You Spend Time With
Child of God, the same thing will happen
to you if you lose your dedication to the
Lord and your zeal for His work. When you
are riding high with God’s blessings and
everything is going great in your life, that
is the time to be careful not to neglect the
Lord. King Solomon became careless in his
relationship with the Lord. He compromised
and disobeyed God by marrying women who
were not of the household of faith, and their
evil ways corrupted him.
Are you associating with people in the
world when you don’t have to? Do you
hang out with sinners on a regular basis? Of
course, there are times when you have to be
around people who are not serving God; but
do you constantly seek their company and
companionship? If you are friends with the
wrong people, you need to separate because
you can be in danger of losing your devotion
to the Lord. The devil will slowly creep in
until all of a sudden, your dedication to the
Lord will be gone.
King Asa Loved the Lord
King Asa is another example of someone
who started out with a lot of zeal and dedication
towards God, but he let self get in the
way. Asa was the third king of Judah. His
father had been king before him, and he was a
wicked man; but the Bible says, Asa did that
which was good and right in the eyes of the
LORD his God (II Chronicles 14:2).
At that time, the people of Judah worshipped
idols because of the failure of King Solomon,
Asa’s great grandfather. But King Asa didn’t
care who had worshipped idols before him or
what his friends and family thought; he was
going to serve the true and living God, and he
proved it by his actions. For he took away
the altars of the strange gods, and the high
places, and brake down the images, and cut
down the groves (II Chronicles 14:3).
Asa was determined to stand for truth and
lead the people under the leadership of God
with no compromise. He didn’t even allow
his mother, the queen, to get away with idol
worship. She made an idol in the grove, but
King Asa had it destroyed and then removed
her from being queen. And Asa cut down
her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the
brook Kidron (II Chronicles 15:16).
That shows complete dedication to the Lord.
King Asa put God first in his life, and his dedication
to God brought rest in Judah for 10 years.
Keep Your Eyes on God
Later, testing time came in King Asa’s life,
and an army of one million Ethiopians came
to fight against Judah. King Asa’s army was
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