Well, OBVIOUSLY I’d Follow God If He SPOKE To Me!

“I would OBVIOUSLY follow God if He talked directly to me.”

In last Sunday’s Rooted Sunday school Zoom meeting, I encouraged my class to stay in the Word of God. Something in my Bible reading jumped out to me that morning like it never had before. Solomon had the law, and several of David’s Psalms, so he definitely knew better than to take all those wives, but in 1 Kings 11 he ignored the Pentateuch.

“Well… maybe it was just a cultural thing, and all his concubines were just part of what they did back then. You can’t really blame him for being a politician and not really reading the LAW every day, right?”

Here’s the part that jumped out to me… God SPOKE TO HIM DIRECTLY about it. Twice!

“But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; Of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father. Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, WHICH HAD APPEARED UNTO HIM TWICE, And had COMMANDED him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which the Lord commanded. Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.”

Ouch.

“Well, God doesn’t deal with US like that in the New Testament, right? He doesn’t really appear to people any more, but if He DID, I’d definitely believe him.”

Yeah, the rich man in Luke 16 thought that, too:

“For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, IF THEY HEAR NOT MOSES AND THE PROPHETS, neither will they be persuaded, though one ROSE FROM THE DEAD.”

Oof. So it really is about faith in the Word, huh? Yep. Believe it, or not. It’s your choice, and your duty:

“My son, if THOU wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that THOU incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply THINE heart to understanding; Yea, if THOU criest after knowledge, and liftest up THY voice for understanding; If THOU seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; THEN shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.” Proverbs 2:1-5

The New Testament talks about a PERSONAL spiritual development, too:

“According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.”

2 Peter 1:3-9

If we have ANY extra time to ourselves, it would be a shame to waste all of it on Netflix.