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 (1 Kings 1:9 NIV).
What a solemn warning lies there in this verse! Don’t we often think that we could be great in God’s sight if we only had a great spiritual experience? But in thinking these kind of thoughts we forget that such great spiritual experiences bring with them immense responsibilities too.
We are here told that the Lord had appeared to Solomon twice. Just think about that. What a privilege; for a man to have God appear to him not once, but twice!
And definitely God would have expected Solomon to walk in His ways. And certainly Solomon did walk in God’s ways for a time. The people would have expected him to show this devotion to God in practical ways. And certainly Solomon showed it by building a great temple for God’s dwelling and ruling the land with wisdom.
But there came a time when even Solomon turned from God’s ways to walk in ways not pleasing to God.
It is amazing to note certain contradictions to common wisdom in this turnabout in Solomon’s life. He was the wisest man on earth; and it is said that wisdom grows along with the passing of years. Yet Solomon turned away from the Lord as he grew old. It was caused by his disobedience to God’s command not to marry from other nations.
But more importantly we have to note the warning here: Neither Solomon’s visions of God nor his great wisdom prevented him from going astray from God. It does not matter how great spiritual experiences we enjoy. What matters is whether they help us to cling to God and to Him alone; all the way, till the very end!
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