Wisdom, Frogs, & Weather Alerts

Posted On June 5, 2023

“Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline.”

Proverbs 1:7 NLT

After David died, his son Solomon became king of Israel. Starting off strong, Solomon led God’s people into a golden age. His wisdom and wealth became known throughout the ancient world. But, sadly, he eventually strayed from complete faithfulness to God, and things went downhill from there. This week we explore some lessons we can learn from his story…

Our plan for 2023 is to journey through The NeverEnding Story of the Bible and discover how we fit into it along the way. Our plan for this year is loosely based on The Story, an abridged chronological version of the Bible, and the accompanying study guide The Heart of the Story by Randy Frazee.

Here is where we are in The Story:

MOVEMENT TWO: The Story of Israel (Genesis 12-Malachi)

Chapter 13 – The King Who Had It All

This chapter in The Story includes 1 Kings 1-8, 10-11; 2 Chronicles 5-7; and Proverbs 1-3, 6, 20-21. The kingdom Solomon inherited from his father David was in great condition. Strong, prosperous, and finally at peace, Israel was poised to fulfill God’s promise to bless all nations through them. And Solomon seemed to be the perfect man to lead them. In fact, soon after Solomon assumed the throne, God appeared to him in a dream and offered to give him anything he asked for. When Solomon humbly asked for wisdom to lead God’s people, this pleased God so much that He not only granted Solomon’s request, He far exceeded it, blessing Solomon with great fame and wealth as well:

“I will do what you have asked. I will give you more wisdom and understanding than anyone has ever had before or will ever have again.”

1 Kings 3:12 GNT

That brings us to our first lesson…

Study God’s Wisdom

“Not only did Solomon desire wisdom for himself so he would lead God’s nation well, but he also wanted every citizen to have wisdom and apply it to their everyday lives. So he wrote down hundreds of wise sayings that are included in the Bible in a book called Proverbs.”

Randy Frazee, The Heart of the Story

Thankfully, Solomon took the time to share his wisdom with the rest of us through his writings. In the book of Proverbs, we find good advice for successful living. And we also learn that the foundation for all wisdom is reverence for the Lord. It all begins with God. Through His Word and through His Spirit, God’s wisdom is readily available for anyone willing to seek it. But we must come to Him with a teachable mind and an obedient heart.

“Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom.
Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.”

Proverbs 3:7 NLT

As we humbly submit to God and allow Him to teach us His truth, we become wise in the ways of the Lord. But it takes work. Learning God’s lessons is a commitment we must be willing to make. Reading the Bible and applying its truth in a personal way can be humbling, exhausting, and even painful at times. But if we’re willing to listen to what God has to teach us, holding on to His truth even when our own judgment cries out for us to go our own way, we will be blessed beyond measure.

“King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth.”

1 Kings 10:23 NIV

Solomon, the wisest man in the world, warned against being impressed with one’s own wisdom. Instead, he said we must fear the Lord and turn away from evil. That’s good advice. Unfortunately, however, Solomon didn’t follow it. And, eventually, he was led astray.

This brings us to lesson number two…

Stay Out Of Hot Water

“Pride comes before disaster,
and arrogance before a fall.”

Proverbs 16:18 CEV

There’s an analogy often used when describing the dangers of gradually compromising one’s beliefs. It’s called boiling frog syndrome. It goes like this: If you put a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will immediately jump right out because it senses the danger. But if you put a frog into a pot of lukewarm water and gradually turn up the heat, it will just sit there until it’s too late. The frog ends up getting boiled alive because it didn’t know when to jump out of the pot.

Now, I don’t plan to ever test this theory with an actual frog, but I think we get the point. The danger of “little sins” is that they can lead us to keep readjusting our internal spiritual temperature so much that we end up in hot water before we realize it. It appears that this is what happened to Solomon.

Before David died, he instructed Solomon to obey the Lord’s commands and follow His ways. If Solomon remained faithful to the Lord, he would be blessed with success and God would fulfill His promise to David that one of his descendants would always be on the throne of Israel. (See 1 Kings 2:1-4.) Later, after the construction of the Temple, God Himself gave Solomon the same instructions, along with stern warnings about what would happen to Israel if he disobeyed God’s commands or worshiped other gods. (See 1 Kings 9:3-9.) Solomon started off strong and stayed faithful to God, but by the end of his story, we find him building pagan shrines to foreign gods. As a result, God announced that He would tear the kingdom away from him. (See 1 Kings 11:9-11.)

And just like that, Israel’s golden age was over.

So, what happened? I don’t think Solomon just woke up one day and suddenly decided he was going to turn away from God. But, like his father before him, Solomon seemed to struggle with self-control when it came to women. David’s troubles began when he noticed Bathsheba bathing. He let admiration turn into desire, and then his desire led to adultery, which led to murder. David found himself in really hot water pretty quickly, but he always remained faithful to the Lord. Sadly, in this regard, Solomon did not follow in his father’s footsteps:

“Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. The Lord had clearly instructed the people of Israel, ‘You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.’ Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the Lord.”

1 Kings 11:1-3 NLT

Solomon compromised on God’s rules about marrying foreign women. Maybe he didn’t think it was that big of a deal. After all, he was Solomon, the wisest man in the world. Surely, he knew what was best for him. He probably thought he was smart enough not to be led astray. But he was wrong. His “little” sin led to disaster, not just for him, but for all of Israel.

“Solomon probably thought he was too wise to let any of his wives turn him away from God, and from all evidence, he was right. At first. We don’t know if his fall started after twenty years of ruling Israel or thirty years into his reign. But eventually the water got too hot. All the Bible tells us is that ‘as Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods.'”

Randy Frazee, The Heart of the Story

We may not have 700 pagan wives leading us to worship foreign gods, but we all face temptations to compromise on God’s rules, especially rules we may think are not all that important. Here’s one I bet we all struggle with: “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:2 NIV) Throughout the Bible, we are instructed to control what we think, but how many of us can say we have never let our thoughts stray into areas God has specifically told us to avoid? Ever worried excessively about anything? Then, I’m sorry to say, you’re guilty — and so am I! (See Philippians 4:6.) But that’s not such a big deal, right?

Wrong. All sins begin in our thoughts. (See Mark 7:20-23.) So, anytime our thoughts go astray, we’re readjusting our internal sin threshold just a little bit more. Soon, things we once considered completely off limits seem like maybe they’re not so bad. In fact, they seem pretty good. Actually, we really want them. After all, everyone else has them. We deserve them, too. I’m sure God wouldn’t mind. He would want us to be happy, right? And so it goes. It doesn’t take long before one tiny thought becomes full-blown sin, and we find ourselves in big trouble.

Thankfully, as Christians, we don’t have to navigate the dangers all on our own. We have the Holy Spirit to let us know when we’re getting into hot water, which brings us to lesson number three…

Pay Attention to God’s Warnings

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.”

Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV

Where I live, the weather this time of year can become stormy rather quickly, and it is common to hear alarmingly loud notifications being received by all cell phones in town. After being told on various such occasions what this scary sound was, my four-year-old granddaughter finally decided it was time for more information. So, the other day she asked me, “Nanny, what’s a weather alert?” I explained that it’s a warning we get when dangerous weather is approaching. She thought about this for a second and then asked very sincerely, “So, when there’s going to be bad weather, God sends out a message to everyone’s phones?”

Oh, to have that childlike faith again! As I clarified to her that it’s actually the National Weather Service that sends out the weather alerts, I couldn’t help but wish that her interpretation had been correct. Wouldn’t it be nice if God actually sent us a notification whenever we’re headed for trouble?

[BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!]

— THE ALMIGHTY FATHER IN HEAVEN HAS ISSUED A SEVERE SIN WARNING FOR CHRISTA AND EVERYONE IN HER VICINITY UNTIL 9:00 PM. THE REPERCUSSIONS OF THIS SIN COULD BE EMOTIONAL PAIN, DAMAGING SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT, AND A HIGH PROBABILITY OF FURTHER TRANSGRESSIONS. PLEASE TAKE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY. MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM OF YOUR HOME, OPEN YOUR BIBLE, AND GET DOWN ON YOUR KNEES TO AVOID INJURY TO YOURSELF OR OTHERS.

I’d like to think that this would work, but if I’m honest, I’d probably just end up silencing my phone and ignoring it. Because I’ve done it before. No, God hasn’t actually ever texted me, but I’ve felt His Spirit warn me against potentially harmful behavior in the past, and I didn’t listen. Instead, I dismissed His cautions as overreactions, came up with rationalizations about how what I wanted to do wasn’t so bad, or just flat out did what I knew was wrong. And I paid the price. Maybe you can relate.

I think we’ve all found ourselves in hot water at one time or another, but unlike the poor frog, it’s never too late for us to jump out of the pot and back into God’s arms. Nothing we’ve done will keep God from loving us, forgiving us, or involving us in His plan. Nothing. So, we should never be afraid to turn back to Him. We may still have consequences to face, but God will never give up on us. He knows it takes time for us to learn how to lean, not on our own understanding, but on His. If we humble ourselves and let Him lead us, He will show us the way that leads to true happiness!

“The best advice Solomon offers us is to be extremely careful about jumping into ‘harmless’ pots of water. But if we have — and we’re already feeling cooked — then we must remember that with God it is never too late to come back to him even though we may be a bit overdone and wrinkled. True wisdom leads us to depend on God and humbly trust that he knows what is best for us.”

Randy Frazee, The Heart of the Story

This week’s Scripture passages all come from the book of Proverbs. As we read Solomon’s words, let’s focus on the lessons we can learn from his life: Study God’s wisdom, stay out of hot water, and pay attention to God’s warnings. Let’s also take to heart what we learn by comparing Solomon to his father David, because it’s the most important lesson of all: No matter what happens, always stay faithful to God!

“How we live our lives matters. Our prayer must be that we will not only start strong, but also finish strong.”

Randy Frazee, The Heart of the Story

For more wisdom from Solomon (and others), see I’m Working My Way Up to Proverbs 31!

“Learn the truth and never reject it.
Get wisdom, self-control, and understanding.”

Proverbs 23:23 NCV

References:

• Frazee, Randy.  The Heart of the Story: Discover Your Life Within the Grand Epic of God’s Story. Zondervan, 2017.
• The Story: Read the Bible as One Seamless Story from Beginning to End. Rev. ed., Zondervan, 2008.

Images:

• Scroll in featured image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
• Frog in featured image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
• Lightning Cloud in featured image by Jozef Mikulcik from Pixabay
• Scroll image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
• Bible image by Colleen from Pixabay
• Frog image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
• Lightning Clouds image by Jozef Mikulcik from Pixabay