If God appeared to you and said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you”, what would you ask him to give you? Think about the potential that you would possess by being able to have anything you wanted. God did come to a man named Solomon and did that very thing. Solomon had just been made King. His answer to God was, “You have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. Give me wisdom and knowledge that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours.” Wisdom, Solomon asked for the wisdom to govern as King of Israel. Today in our society if someone could receive from God anything they wanted and asked for wisdom they would be laughed at and considered to be very foolish.
Because Solomon asked for wisdom instead of wealth, possessions, or honor or favor over his enemies God gave him not only wisdom, but He granted him wealth, possessions and honor like no other king had ever known. Solomon is considered the wisest man who ever lived. People came from all over the world to witness the great wisdom of Solomon. He had understanding that only God could give. But even with all his wisdom and all of his understanding Solomon messed up big time.
The Bible says, “King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women…” They were from the nations that God had warned his people to not marry. He told them if you do you will surely turn your hearts after their gods. And sure enough as Solomon got older he turned his heart after other gods, and his heart wasn’t completely devoted to the Lord his God. “So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord…” The man who asked for wisdom, and built the great temple for God; the king who loved God and led his people to love God, lusted after pagan women, married them and turned away from the Lord to follow other gods. How could the wisest man in the world marry 700 pagan women and take 300 pagan concubines? That makes about 1,000 mistakes. These women led him astray.
Many good men of God and good women of God have had tremendous wisdom lapses. Women lead men astray and men lead women astray by lusting after each other and making very bad choices. This has happened way too often to many preachers who had wonderful ministries in great churches where people were being saved and lives were being changed, but the lure of a young, beautiful woman led them astray. And it has worked the other way as well. Satan attacks successful ministers and successful workers in God’s kingdom. He attacks the most talented, the most gifted, the strongest, the wisest and the most knowledgeable in order to destroy their ministries, their influence, their marriages and their churches. That is why we need to pray every day for our ministers. It is vital that we pray that God will protect them from the temptation of sexual sin. Believe me, Satan’s attacks are real and powerful. Think about it, if the wisest man, God’s chosen leader over his people can fall so can anyone else. We also need to pray for those men and women, once used mightily by God, who have been led astray by the opposite sex. Pray that God will restore them and use them again for his glory.
Scripture References: 1 Kings 11, 2 Chronicles 1
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