The first Temple built by Solomon
was awesome in splendor and truly something to behold. God entered
the Temple with His Shekinah glory and dwelt amongst His people, as
their God and King.
Unfortunately the people's hearts
started drifting away from God. They started to worship the gods of
the people they were supposed to drive out of the land. They
erected Asherah poles throughout the land as well as high places
where they worshiped gods like Baal. If you read the Old Testament
you will see that the Israelites truly had a rollercoaster history.
They will serve God and worship Him at the Temple, and then once
things go well, they drift off and start to worship other gods.
Then they realize their mistake and start to worship God again in
His Temple, just to drift off again once things go well. It was
truly a sad state of affairs. The Temple that had to draw them
closer to God simply became a symbol to them. They believed that if
the Temple was in their presence, no enemy will destroy them.
Unfortunately it was not the Temple protecting them, but God living
in the Temple. And yet they neglected Him.
The situation grew so bad, that the
Israelites even started to sacrifice their own children in fire to
the god Molech. God had enough and had to punish them. He allowed
the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar to invade Jerusalem. He even
allowed him to destroy His sacred Temple. It was truly a sad day in
the history of Israel. They had forsaken God and despite all His
efforts and all the prophets He had sent, they refused to turn back
to Him. The consequences were devastating.
Now when I look at the lives of the
Israelites I am appalled by their behavior. When I read the
accounts recorded in 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings, I cannot
believe how selfish and wayward the Israelites were. They truly had
everything in Solomon's day. They were
the nation on earth, blessed, rich and
protected. And yet they threw it all away, simply to run after
other gods. Go and read these books in one go; it is really
shocking how they literally turned their backs on God, despite
everything He had done for them. I was really disgusted with them.
But then God revealed something to me. We are not much
different…..
A lot of times we do the same thing
to Him. He wants to give us everything this world has to offer, but
we are too busy to spend time with Him. We have different 'gods'
today. It might be your work, it might be your phone/social media,
it might be your sport or it might even be your children. Whatever
it may be, we tend to exalt these things above God. We tend to
spend all our thoughts and energy towards it. Now I know we need to
work, spend time with our children and exercise. But the
fundamental question is where is your heart? Is God at the center
of it all, or have you taken control and tried to operate on your
own? There is a big difference. God must be the One our work
revolves around, He must be the One in charge of our children, and
He must be the One leading us to the right sport for us. You see He
knows best and wants to bless you and lead you on the right path.
But if you focus all your energy on your work etc., and try to
control everything on your own I am afraid that you will burn
out.
Only God knows best. Spend time
with Him somewhere this week and ask Him to reveal to you the
'gods' that you have in your life. What do you idolize above Him?
He will gladly show you, as well as how to handle it differently in
future. I have done this exercise a couple of weeks ago and it was
amazing what He revealed to me. I changed the way I viewed the
particular area in my life and it has made such a difference. Truly
it has. I feel so much more relaxed and more loved. He is in
control and will lead and guide you if you allow Him. Remember He
is a Gentleman and will never force His way of life on you. He
wants to gently work through you and change you into the
representative of Him He wants you to be.
Father, we confess that we have
'gods' in our lives. We have areas that we haven't dedicated to
You. Please come and fill us with Your wisdom, love and grace and
show us the areas where we haven't yet surrendered. And please help
us to do so and lead us unto the path that You want us to walk on.
Amen