Still Doing What You Told Me Not to Do (Lent 29-2014)

In the musical My Fair Lady, there is humorous misogyny on full display.  Or at least a chauvinistic spirit as comic relief.  Nowhere is it more visible than in two songs sung by the linguistics professor Henry Higgins:  “Never Let a Woman in Your Life” and “Why Can’t a Woman be More Like a Man?”

You can see what I mean at this video:  Click here to view.

King Solomon’s problem was not that he hated women. 

Nope.  He loved women and lots of them.  It’s not that he thought so little of women, but rather that he thought too much of them, way too often, and about way too many of them.

God told him not to do it. 

But he did it anyway.

The wisest man in the world, blessed by God, King Solomon had much wisdom…but at times, little common sense or willing obedience. 

God even warned him about it, but King Solomon ignored all of God’s warnings and look what happened: the wisest man in the world squandered it all and became the biggest fool of all history.

NIV 1 Kings 11:1 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 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. 7 On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods. 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.”

Are there any areas of your life where you are slapping God’s face by your willing rebellion?  Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.

Reaping what you’ve sown can be a pleasant harvest or a grim reaping.  The choice on this one is yours.  Will you have a pleasant harvest of God’s bounty in your life?  Or will you have a rather grim reaping of the consequences of rebellion against God?

Be Still.  I want for you to know bounty and joy.  But that only comes with your being holy.

Be Still.  There’s grace for when you fail and you repent.  There are only consequences if you fail to repent.

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  I will not and cannot be mocked.  I will guard My holiness against any assault from you.

Be Still and Know that I AM God.  Isaiah 42:8 “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.”

Questions for reflection:

1.  Are there any gods in your life to which you are trying to give equal billing alongside God?  Money?  Career?  Family?  Sports?
2. Perhaps you think you have no other gods.  Are there things you spend much time thinking about?  More than you think about how God views matters?
3. If you have any other allegiances, ask God to help you put them in their proper perspective.  Ask Him to order your allegiances—not so that you care less about important things, but so you’ll care more about the most important concern: God’s rule over your life.