I just want each of you to know how important you are to the Kingdom of God. I so appreciate the sacrifice each of you are paying to advance the Kingdom of God. Of course, when we stand before King Jesus and see what all had taken place due to your faithfulness, that you are totally unaware of, it will not seem like much of a sacrifice at all.
I was reading through II Chronicles the other week in my devotional time. I read 2 Chron 8:11 Now Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David to the house he had built for her, for he said, “My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places to which the ark of the Lord has come are holy.”
Solomon knew that his wife, being Pharaoh’s daughter, did not worship nor serve Almighty God whom he served. He knew that she worshiped a pagan God and he did not want to pollute the house of David. I wrote in the margin of my Bible many years ago in red ink, “He knew he was playing with fire but it did not stop him!”
What a sad commentary as we view the end of Solomon’s life. The wisest man who ever lived, whom God appeared and talked with him on two separate occasions. This man, so wise, knew he was playing with fire and continued to do so. We read the end account of his life in 1 Kings 11:4-8 For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6 Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as did his father David. 7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. 8 And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
It is extremely hard to play with fire and not get burnt as Solomon learned the hard way! Lord, show me, show everyone who is reading this post, any place in our lives where we are playing with fire. Doing what we know to be wrong but justifying it anyway thinking we will not get burned. Jesus, reveal, convict and then cause us to repent and bring change into our lives that we might finish strong and faithful to you all our days!
Don’t be foolish enough to play with fire for you will surely get burned!