Week 20 1 Chronicles 28
Not long before he died David gave Solomon some father-to-son advice:
Acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.
Years later – his dad was long gone – Solomon got a similar kind of prompt-reminder from the Lord:
If you walk before me in integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever.
In the early & middle stages of his life Solomon had a run of successes and he eventually became the greatest king Israel ever had. But as years rolled by Solomon got sidetracked: as (he) grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God…He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord.
Solomon’s end-story is a sad reminder that getting good advice at the front end is only as useful as adopting a Good-Advice Maintenance Program over time. Staying on track is at least as tough as getting on track.
Note: quotes from 1 Chronicles 28:9 1 Kings 9:4 & 11:4-5 (NIV)