Your Kingdom Come

Today I read in 1 kings 7,

1 It took Solomon thirteen years, however, to complete the construction of his palace.

After reading this passage I had to really think about Jedediah's(Solomon) situation. Some of the questions I just had to ask myself are; Why did it take longer to build Solomon's Palace then it did the Temple, in addition why did he make his Palace and his wife's palace in the same manner of God's? I can reason out that it took longer for his palace to build because he focused all his energy on building the temple, and maybe he built his own palace because of the excess of materials. I don't want to make assumptions to what has happened but was this the beginning of trouble for Solomon? Looking at Solomon's end demise and the state of the kingdom after he died gives us clues on what may have happened. The picture up above shows the few remnants of the temple Solomon built, I'm sure glad the temple that the Lord is raising up now in the hearts of man will last for all eternity.

1 Kings 11

Solomon's Wives

1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods." Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3 He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech [a] the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done.

The simplest way I can express what I see is that Solomon was more focused on building his kingdom rather than God's. The foreign women that God told him not to pursue he did for the sake of making treaties. Still to this day Israel struggles with treaties because of all the corrupt alliances made. It was only for David's sake that God did not remove Solomon right away but it was made clear to him that the kingdom he established would be torn apart from him. God is not interested in us building our own kingdom or our own ministry but to build to spec and design, His kingdom. So again back to the Lords prayer, Thy kingdom come.

I do not want to take away form Solomon's teachings in proverbs and other passages denoted to him by showing his demise and fall. Regardless of how he fell he still was endowed with wisdom from God. He was turned by evil and twisted by the demons that he tried to control, at a time in the world he was pretty much as powerful as a man could be. Unfortunately that ultimate power corrupted him ultimately. He lost track of the love of God it reads chapter 11:

9 The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD's command. 11 So the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. 12 Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen."

I may continue on with the life of solomon but I feel sad to see such an awesome man of God just be turned by the ways of the evil one.

Thank you Lord for the shield of faith that you have given your servants, there is not a chance we can make things on our own without Your spirit. I pray that you would strengthen me as I write this and bless those who read this. All things are possible through You.

"Not my will but Yours be done, may my heart shine like the sun."