God’s Peace be with you all.

1 Kings 11:1-13  King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,  ² from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the Israelites, "You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you; for they will surely incline your heart to follow their gods"; Solomon clung to these in love.  ³ Among his wives were seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart.  ⁴ For when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David.  ⁵ For Solomon followed Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.  ⁶ So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not completely follow the LORD, as his father David had done.  ⁷ 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.  ⁸ He did the same for all his foreign wives, who offered incense and sacrificed to their gods.  ⁹ Then 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,  ¹⁰ and had commanded him concerning this matter, that he should not follow other gods; but he did not observe what the LORD commanded.  ¹¹ Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this has been your mind and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant.  ¹² Yet for the sake of your father David I will not do it in your lifetime; I will tear it out of the hand of your son.  ¹³ I will not, however, tear away the entire kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen."

Yesterday I preached about Solomon’s decision to have wisdom as his gift from God.  God was pleased that Solomon had asked for this, and out of this gift, Solomon became the king over the greatest of all the Hebrew nations.  Solomon realized that he was the king over God’s people, rather than king over his own people.  This reign lasted for 40 years, until Solomon decided to get greedy (which we all do) and forget about God.  In doing so, you can read what God’s response was to Solomon.

Solomon’s kingdom was an interesting turning point for the Hebrew people.  Through his leadership, God’s people saw just how great of a nation they could be.  But also through his leadership, they saw what happens when you turn away from God by worshiping other gods.  There is grace though in the midst of God’s anger…he tells Solomon that he will not destroy (tear away) the entire kingdom.  Instead, there will be a remnant left that will be governed by the person of God’s choice.  In this case, that person is Solomon’s son. 

In the midst of our own lives, there are plenty of times where we turn away from God.  Yet by offering his only Son, God has guaranteed that a remnant will be left and cared for.  In the sinfulness of our daily lives, we get reminded that we are called and claimed as God’s own children, washed of our sins in the waters of baptism and restored to newness of life.  Why does God do this?  Why did he do it for Solomon?  Simple:  because God loves us and wants us to love him back.

In our prayers this week:  Ann, Gail H., Daniel (Jane’s dad), Nancy (Carrie’s mom), Dawn (Pastor’s mom), and all those traveling.

God’s Peace,