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.

On the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, he even built a pagan shrine for Chemosh, the detestable god of Moab, and another for Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. Solomon built such shrines for all his foreign wives to use for burning incense and sacrificing to their gods.

The Lord was very angry with Solomon, for his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. He had warned Solomon specifically about worshiping other gods, but Solomon did not listen to the Lord’s command.

So now the Lord said to him, “Since you have not kept my covenant and have disobeyed my decrees, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants.

But for the sake of your father, David, I will not do this while you are still alive. I will take the kingdom away from your son. And even so, I will not take away the entire kingdom; I will let him be king of one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, my chosen city.”
1 Kings 11:1-13

Dear God, I don’t want to fall away from you. I can feel arrogance in me. I’m sorry. I can feel haughtiness in me. Self-righteousness. Self-sufficiency. Self-reliance. I’m sorry. I need you and only you. Nothing else will satisfy my soul. Being liked by others won’t do it. Success won’t do it. Being admired won’t do it. These things will all walk away from me in a heartbeat and if I worship them I’ll chase them and beg them to stay. I’ll do anything to make them stay. Then I will prove they are my god and you are nothing to me. But I reject those gods. I repent for my sense of taking over and accomplishing things on my own. For my desire to be important. For wanting political influence and power through those who govern. For being distracted by any of that.

I was just (foolishly) briefly scrolling through Facebook this morning and I saw a post from an acquaintance who was encouraging people to vote a specific way but included the phrase “praying for wisdom and discernment.” She’s fooling herself if she thinks that’s what she’s doing. At least, if she thinks you’re the god (little g) she’s praying to. But have I been any different lately? Maybe not to that extreme, but I can feel the life-creep away from your heart.

Father, I give my life to you. I. This moment. In this day. Holy Spirit, please walk with me today and help me to have ears to hear you and eyes to see.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen