"If I were God"

Some months back, I heard myself saying “Lord, not again, does it ever end? I really do think I deserve a break”. I remember at one point talking to a trusted confidant and saying it feels like as a Christian, you just move from one victory to another battle before you are done savoring the taste of victory. I don’t know if you have ever felt like you could do with a full year of NO challenges, worries, needs or wants around you. I certainly do…I mean it will be great to wake up every morning just praising, worshiping and thanking God, bringing no requests before him.

God, been my ever present help in time of need, saw me through that battle and I thank him for His mercies. About the same time, I heard a sermon that mentioned Solomon’s love for foreign women and it made me to look a bit more into Solomon’s life. These two seemly unrelated incidents opened my heart to ask myself some really tough questions and answer those questions with honesty. Allow me to share with you, but first let me summarize Solomon’s declining graph.

I will start just when he (Solomon) was just made King, in 1 Kings 3. After realizing the mighty task before him, to step into his father’s shoes and lead God’s chosen people, he offered God a record breaking sacrifice of 1000 burnt offerings, and his only prayer was for God to grant him wisdom to rule His people. It was all about God; and Solomon solely depended on God to lead him through. In response, God promised him wisdom, honor, wealth and long life if he was obedient. God kept his promise to Solomon, in fact 1 Kings 5:3 states that the Lord gave Solomon rest and there was no adversary or disaster.

The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. ¹¹ So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, ¹² I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. ¹³ Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. ¹⁴ And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.” ¹⁵ Then Solomon awoke—and he realized it had been a dream (2kings 3)

Fast forward a few chapters, the Bible records that Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Now if you do the simple math, it means he spent almost 2 years of his life been the groom and this excludes the ‘honey moon time’. Even if he did wed multiple women at the same time, it would still have been a lot of time investment. I was quick to blame his ‘excesses’ on not having any wars to fight and enemies to strategize against like his father did, because if he did, then he could not have found the time for a 1000 women in his life time. Anyway, we all know how Solomon ended his walk with God. By the time you get to 1 Kings 11, his heart was turned away from GodL, courtesy of the many foreign women. Sadly, despite God’s warnings, he did not change and the result was the kingdom was split during the reign of his son on his account.

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.”

At some point during this study, I recalled my statement to God about needing a break, and I asked myself, “If I were God will I give me rest all around right now?” Can I honestly say that in luxury, in health and with no adversary, my heart will still be wholly devoted to God? Will I still wake up every morning and worship God same way I do when I am in need? Will my priorities still remain the same, or will I let networking opportunities take over church service times? Will I still depend on God’s direction for my everyday life, or believe I can take care of a few things on my own? Can God trust that my attitude towards Him will not change negatively when He begins to pour down His blessings? No wonder God warned the Israelites that when they have eaten and are full, they should not forget the Lord their God (Deut 8:11-17). There is no standard answer to these questions as this is one everyone needs to ask and answer for himself or herself.  

As painful as the truth may be for some of us to accept, it is very important that we are honest with ourselves when answering this question. Even if your answer to the question is NO based on your current track record, there is no need to despair because we are all work in progress at the Master’s hands and I am confident that He who started the good work is faithful to complete it. My prayer for you and I is that God can confidently say about us as he said about Job in plenty he was found blameless and upright before God (Job 1:1-3). I draw further assurance from the story of Peter, who by the time the Master was done with him; Peter went from denying Jesus in front of the slave girl to boldly preaching before rulers of the land.  

Remain Blessed