Doing Right in the Eyes of the Lord

             Recently, my daily Bible reading has been focused on the book of Kings.  The most famous king of Israel was David, a man who was far from perfect, but still, God called him a man after his own heart (I Samuel 13:14).  Unfortunately, when David died, we can’t say the same about those who came after him. 

            On his deathbed, David chose his son, Solomon, to succeed him.  He commissioned him with these words, “…observe what the Lord your God requires:  Walk in his ways, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and requirements, as written in the Law of Moses…” (I Kings 2: 2, 3 NIV84). 

At first, Solomon followed his father’s instructions.  He knew his own limitations, so he asked God for wisdom so that he could govern the people well.  In response, God gave him wisdom and discernment, as well as riches and honor (I Kings 3:7 – 13).  Solomon made wise rulings, wrote numerous proverbs, and built and dedicated the Temple of God.  He appeared to be following in his father’s footsteps.

Unfortunately, Solomon’s story does not end there.  I Kings 11 tells us that his love for foreign women became his downfall.  Eventually, he had 700 wives born of nations that God had warned the Israelites to avoid.  It was those women who turned his heart toward “other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been” (I Kings 11: 4 NIV84).  As punishment, God took the kingdom from him and divided it among his adversaries.  The result was a divided Kingdom—Israel in the North and Judah in the South.

What I find most interesting (or perhaps, more enlightening is the better term) is that following Solomon, over the next 275 years, there were 9 kings of Judah.  For 6 of those kings, the Scripture says, he “did right in the eyes of the Lord” except….  Even for those who tried to follow God, there was always some aspect of idolatry that they just couldn’t bring themselves to destroy.  The other three kings were even worse.  They didn’t even attempt to follow God.  They simply “did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” 

I don’t know what caused generation after generation to deny God and His teachings, but I do see some lessons to be learned from their mistakes.  Following God requires us to be “all in”.  We can’t hang on to old habits that are contrary to God’s ways.  God allows us to start with a clean slate, thanks to the blood of Christ, but what we do with that clean slate is up to us.  Solomon allowed the ways of the world to creep into his life, in violation of God’s instructions, and he paid the price for that decision.  Most of the kings who came after him followed that same course. 

Whatever our past, God gives us a bright future.  His only request is that we accept His Son as Lord of our lives and follow in His footsteps.  I know that I need to examine myself daily to ensure that I’m not hanging on to some of those “exceptions” in my life.  How about you?

I Kings 11: 6; 15: 9 – 15; & 22: 41 – 43

II Kings 8: 16 – 18; 12: 1 – 3; 14: 1 – 4; 15: 1 – 4; & 15: 32 - 35

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