King Solomon, son of King David, was the wisest man who ever lived; but his actions toward the end of his life did not show a lot of good judgment.
He begins the book of Ecclesiastes by saying, “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” This is sad since God was so pleased with him in the beginning of his reign. Solomon prayed for wisdom, and God gave him wisdom. In addition to wisdom, God gave him riches and honor. In return God asked him for one thing. He said, “And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days” (I King 3:13).
That sounds simple enough! Solomon, however, brought in his 700 wives and 300 concubines, the first wife coming from Egypt. She was a gift and probably brought with her the worship practices of idolatry. His wives turned his heart away from God, and he did evil (I Kings 11:3-6).
Solomon obviously worked hard, building the temple and working at other projects during his reign; but he was also a self-indulgent man. Earlier in chapter 2 he talks about how great he became and how he indulged himself in all the pleasures of the world. He says he didn’t withhold anything from himself.
When Solomon looked back on his life, this was what he saw. “I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned about and gave my heart up to despair over all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes a person who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave everything to be enjoyed by someone who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 2:18-22).
This is so sad. These words came from a man that had everything he could want. He made many right decisions, made money on top of money, and wanted for nothing; yet he allowed his wives to turn his heart away from God.
At the end of this book, Solomon said, “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”
Like Solomon, at the end of our lives, our wealth, our possessions, our honors, our accomplishments will mean nothing if we have not been obedient to God’s commandments. Everything will be left for someone else to enjoy, and what will we have? That depends on our obedience or disobedience to God.
The 31st chapter of Proverbs was written by someone by the name of Lemuel. Verse 1 says that it was an oracle that his mother taught him. The chapter extols the virtuous woman, all her accomplishments and the way her family and others looked at her. She sounds like the perfect woman, wife, and mother. At the end, the writer said, “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”
Fearing the Lord and keeping His commandments are the things that will assure us of making it to heaven. Nothing is more important than obedience to God. Nothing will guarantee a place in heaven but obedience to God.
We can’t assume that we can lay out that path for obedience for ourselves. Obedience must be according to the scripture. Remember the passage from Isaiah 55:8, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
We may not assume that we can choose to obey only the things we want to obey or those things with which we agree. Obedience means doing what God says in His Word.
Our duty is to search the scriptures, see what God’s plan is, and be obedient to Him.
Sandra Oliver