June 9 2020
FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
LESSONS FROM SOLOMON’S ADULTERY-IDOLATRY-APOSTASIES. “
“For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his god, as was the heart of his father David.” 1 Kings 11: 4, NKJV.(See verses 1-13).
“Pity the Man who was Envied. (See Eccl. 1:14). Many envied the popularity and abundant glory of Solomon, thinking that of all men he must be the MOST HAPPY. But amid all that glory of ARTIFICIAL display the man envied is the one to be MOST PITIED. His countenance is dark with despair. All the splendor about him is but to him mockery of the distress and anguish of his thoughts as he reviews his MISSPENT life in seeking for happiness through indulgence and selfish gratification of every desire.” E.H.White, Signs of the Times, Feb. 7, 1878.
“Unsanctified Marriages Cause Downfall. All the sins and excesses of Solomon can be traced to his GREAT MISTAKE in ceasing to rely upon God for wisdom, and to walk humbly before Him.”
The lesson for us to learn from the history of this perverted life is the necessity of continual dependence upon the counsels of God; to carefully watch the tendency of our course, and to reform every HABIT calculated to draw us from God. It teaches us that great caution, watchfulness, and prayer are needed to keep UNDEFILED the simplicity and purity of our faith.
“If we would rise to the highest MORAL excellence, and attain to the perfection of religious CHARACTER, what DISCRIMINATION should be used in the formation of friendships, and the choice of a COMPANION for life.
“Many, like the king of Israel, follow their own carnal desires, and enter into unsanctified marriages. Many who started out in life with as fair and promising a morning, in their limited sphere, as Solomon had in his exalted station [in life], through one false and irrevocable step in the marriage relation, lose their souls, and draw others down to ruin with them.
“As Solomon’s wives turned his heart away from God to IDOLATRY, so do frivolous companions, who have no depth of principle, turn away the hearts of those who were once noble and true, to vanity, corrupting pleasures, and downright vice.” Ibid, Health Reformer, May, 1878/1BC1106.
May the Holy Spirit continue to work in our hearts, minds and lives, is my hope and prayer for all. NMF