1 Kings 10 journal

1 Kings 10 journal

Proverbs of the day – Proverbs 17:4 A wicked man listens to evil lips; a liar pays attention to a malicious tongue. The wisdom that God gave Solomon allowed him to build the wealthiest nation in the history of the world, even until today. His downfall was that he married women who worshipped gods other than Jehovah and listened to their wicked lips (1 Kings 11). God challenged me with the question, who am I listening to that has evil lips?

1 Kings 10

The world’s wealthiest nation in history was definitely Israel during Solomon’s reign as king. Silver was more common than the stones (Which are all over the place). Many things were made out of gold because it was common as well.  How did Solomon do this? When he became king, he offered the biggest sacrifice to honor God. God was so impressed that he gave Solomon a blank check (1 King 3:5). Solomon asked for the ability to serve the people he governed well (wisdom) and to distinguish between right and wrong. Then one of the first things that Solomon did was build a temple to honor and worship God. He went all out to build the temple. God challenged me with several questions today. What am I willing to sacrifice to demonstrate that God is #1 in my life? If I had a blank check, what would I ask for? What would I do first? How am I going to serve others today?

Unfortunately Solomon didn’t finish well. He didn’t follow God’s plan for selecting a mate and married women that led him to worship other gods. His tolerance of evil eventually led to the down economy.

The formula for building a strong economy seems pretty simple to me. Put God first, passionately seek wisdom from him with the purpose of serving others and do not tolerate evil.  My prayer today is that I will live this out.