Written
by Meg
I was inspired to share my insights after
reading the article ‘My Wedding was supposed to be today’ and after listening
yesterday’s preaching message ‘Forward’ from Pastor Glen.
One thing: the importance of choosing the groom
(my future husband) or the bride
As I studied the life of King Solomon, it seems
that he has everything the world has to offer: wisdom, money, wealth, health
along with his hundreds of wives and concubines (He had seven hundred wives of
royal birth and three hundred concubines. 1 Kings 11:3) Whoa! Too many. Honestly,
I am not sure whether he knows them all.
At the end of his life, the fabulously wealthy
and wise king I admired in his time became nothing. I felt deeply
saddened of the fact that he turned away from God. The God who gave him everything…
as in everything. It was his wives (many wives) who led him astray.
In the Book of Kings, as Solomon grew old, his
wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to
the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed
Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites.
6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord
completely, as David his father had done. (1 Kings 11: 3-7)
The Lord became angry with Solomon because his
heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him
twice. Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not
keep the Lord’s command. So the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this is your
attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you,
I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your
subordinates. Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it
during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. Yet I will
not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake
of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”
(1
Kings 11: 9-13).
Reflecting the life of the wise king tells me
that no matter how wise a husband is; the wife plays a major role in
encouraging his husband’s heart leading to the right direction. God himself is
full of grace like a wife giving wise instruction to the king. However, it was
his disobedience that leads him to death. “You must not intermarry with them,
because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless,
Solomon held fast to them in love… (1 Kings 11:2)
Heart is the weakest weapon when it comes to
emotional decision. This simply means that heart itself is deceiving. In
Jeremiah 17:9, the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.
Who can understand it? But the Lord said, "I the LORD search the heart and
examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct,
according to what their deeds deserve." Meaning, the mind matters more over
the heart. Not to use heart to manipulate the mind.
What if my husband is different? What shall I
do? The Bible is encouraging our mind to be wise in the first place. In
2 Corinthians 6:14 says, Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do
righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have
with darkness? Common sense saying the truth; prevention is better than cure. Do
not be bound together with someone who are not believers of the truth (not the
twisted truth). Proper mind setting is the best way not to harden the heart. Yes,
we can entertain potential partners to become future husband and wife but it says,
search their heart and examine their mind. Sometimes it takes time for a person
to know the real person of who he was and as we know them, we are learning the
art of giving them enough space to accept the things that cannot be changed; to
change the things they can, and the wisdom for them to know the difference.
Time is essential for the change to take place and while waiting for that time...
learn to guard the heart. Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you
do flows from it. Proverbs 4:23
Recalling the book of Joshua Harris (I Kissed
Dating Goodbye) he reminds every single person to set their standards too high.
Setting your standards too high means an inspiring call to sincere love, real
purity, and purposeful singleness by seeking opportunities to serve and a desire
to please God. I believe that God is a generous god. He will reveal the nature
of his gift (partner in heaven) by knowing first to live by contentment in full
of grace, acceptance and obedience with a receptive heart. =)
(written while waiting for the reports to come in)
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