Sunday,  June 29th
Reading for today:  Proverb 30-31 and 1 Kings 12-14


I read yesterday's passage from 1Kings at the same time as this one, and you can see the disintegration of the nation happening right before your eyes.   It seems so sad to have this beautiful kingdom, the result of all of David's hard fought battles, and the wonderful intricate designs and ornamentation that Solomon added handed over to people who don't respect it.    How sad is it that the man in whom God trusts, Jeroboam, takes the nation even further from him than Solomon did?    And Solomon's own son?  Even as he sees what is now the Northern Kingdom slipping away, he does the same ignorant things in the much smaller Southern Kingdom.

There are a couple of things to note:   King David had a wandering eye (Bathsheeba) which is magnified in his son.  Considering who his mom and dad were, it isn't a surprise that he had some issues with marital relationships.

I'm not sure how much counsel David gave to Solomon, given the instructions regarding the temple, I know that there had to be some, anyway.   But didn't he warn him about marrying other women?     And speaking of advice that fathers give their children, why wouldn't Rehoboam follow the advice of his fathers counselors?  They clearly had succeeded in the past.   The only thing that makes sense is that "this is from the Lord".   When we disobey God, and do not honor his law, we begin to make bad decisions that eventually cause our downfall.   The call to holiness cannot be any clearer than in these chapters.  Those who violate God's law regarding marriage, end up offering sacrifices that they shouldn't.  This results in incurring God's wrath, which leads to armed rebellion and challenges against the throne, and disharmony amongst the people.   Then the next step is commissioning of ungodly leaders, and then defeat in battle, and then complete apostasy.

It scares me to think of where we are on that chart.   Unless we repent from our ungodly behavior as a nation, we will see more uprising, more discontent and eventually overthrow and apostasy.    God will not be mocked.

On a somewhat lighter note, today we also read the very famous 31st Psalm, which is pulled out every Mother's Day to laud our much deserving mothers.    Solomon would have done well to marry fewer women and make wiser choices.    The combined reading of Proverb 31 with the results of disobedience are a powerful argument for longer engagements and premarital counseling.  We need to seek advice and make sure that the person we are "becoming one with" is a union that God will bless, and that will not pull us away from Him somewhere in the future.

PR