My 'Solomon'

King Solomon (Book of 1st Kings 1: - 11:43) was probably one of the famous bible characters of all time. Solomon asked God for wisdom and God made him the wisest person to ever lived at that time (1Kings 3:12) ;) Solomon had very successful international trade and his kingdom is blessed with a treasury of riches. Solomon used his gift from God to rule his kingdom and also to show others the goodness of the Lord; so that people from other nations may come and worship the Lord.

Solomon sinned against God by marrying foreign women (700 wives and 300 concubines) who worship strange gods. And these wives and concubines of his "imported" their ideas into his kingdom and built shrines all and around Israel; what's worse: Solomon helped built them. So you see, instead of being faithful to the Lord, Solomon's heart turned to these strange gods which provide only temporary satisfaction. And because of Solomon's folly, God decides to punish him by dividing his kingdom - which is another story ;)

Although Solomon was the wisest man around at that time but I guess he was not wise enough to choose God over all things. And we can probably ask ourselves, have we been in that situation of having to choose God among all things but failed to choose Him? We have a part of 'Solomon' in our lives, which rationalizes the sins which we are going to commit. The 'Solomon' in us might say, "Well... God loves me sooOoo much He understands" or "Since I have committed a serious sin and have to go for Confession, I'll indulge myself in sin and commit another then; so that I can confess all of those once and for all" or this which I have heard before from fellow Catholics, "It's OK. Geomancy (Feng Shui) is not a religion, and it's OK to practice it because it has been deemed as 'science' anyway! [Note: another topic I shall blog for another day ;) ]"

If the 'Solomon' in us speaks of these things... well, I guess 'Solomon' is not very wise after all. I believe it is important for us to evaluate ourselves at the end of the day, to see whether what we have done have brought us closer to God or further away from Him.

Solomon was no doubt the wisest man and his folly is probably because he was too tied up in ruling his earthly kingdom that he failed to see what was more important. In comparison, Jesus knew his priorities, and told his disciples to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and told them by doing this, all things shall be added later (Matthew 6:33).

Let us replace the 'Solomon' in us with JESUS, for He is the wisest of all. And let us ask Jesus for more of His wisdom, that we may make choices that are according to His will.

<>< Peace.