1 Kings 11:9-10 - Forgetful hearer

Scripture:

1 Kings 11:9-10
9 Now the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,
10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not observe what the Lord had commanded.
NASU


Thoughts:

Solomon began to follow false gods because of his many wives:

1 Kings 11:4
4 For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
NASU

God is rightly angry at Solomon's unfaithfulness (verse 9) and direct disobedience (verse 10).  Think of it, the Lord had appeared to him twice (1 Kings 3:5-14; 9:1-9) and even spoken to him about this very thing!

When we read accounts like this, we find it very alarming.  How could this be?  How could Solomon forget what the Lord had told him? 

But why do we do the same thing?  Forgetting what we read in the Bible, at times we turn around and do the opposite.  This should not be!


Prayer:

Lord, help me to remember the things You have spoken in Your word.  Let me be a doer of Your word, and not a forgetful hearer:

James 1:23-25
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.
NASU

Help me to live out what I read in Your word, today.  How I need Your strength to do it!

Amen

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.