Today’s Reading: 1 Kings 10:23-11:4
1 Kings 11:9 — The Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.
God promises to lovingly discipline His children. Solomon was greatly blessed by God, but his heart turned away from God. The Lord was angry with Solomon because Solomon had not been satisfied with one wife, but had taken hundreds of women to be his wives. To please these women, Solomon followed their gods and goddesses, so God was even more displeased.
Blessings become a curse when we think we deserve them and seek them instead of God. When nations and people are blessed, they forget the source of the blessings and believe that it is their wisdom, their goodness, their strength that produced the blessings. They pay lip service to God, but live as though He does not exist or as though He approves of everything they do, even when they do things God has explicitly prohibited.
When God is taken for granted, when God is someone who is “not needed anymore,” God acts He loves. Can a loving father sit back and watch his children destroy themselves? No, a loving father cannot. God is the loving Father. When His child Solomon began to lose himself in pleasure and sin, the Lord was angry with Solomon and confronted Solomon with his sin. God disciplined Solomon in an attempt to turn his heart back to the Lord.
History is full of examples of the divine discipline of nations and people, and we can see it happening in the world today. The United States has been tremendously blessed by God for centuries, but that country has turned from doing what is right in God’s eyes to doing what God hates. We can see that America’s sins have made God angry and that He has allowed many curses to befall that country to discipline her and turn the people’s hearts back to the Lord.
God is long-suffering and gives many warnings before He brings more severe discipline on those He loves. But if a nation or a person hardens their heart to God’s Word and continues to ignore God’s warnings, He will lovingly discipline, chastise, and even scourge the wayward ones to keep them from self-destruction. Do not proudly turn a deaf ear to God’s Word or the inner voice of the Holy Spirit. Be humble and live in obedience to God by faith.
05/03/2024
“Blessings become a curse when we think we deserve them and seek them instead of God.”
As I regret the things I did in the past, I wonder if the blessings of that time have actually become a curse! I should have given my heart to the Word more deeply and the Lord should have come first in my entire life! right. The fact that does not change in the past, present, and future is that the Lord is always the same. I believe that He still loves me and guides me to the best with patience no matter the situation.
Thank you Jesus!
과거에 했던일들을 후회하면서 그때의 축복이 오히려 저주가 된건 아닐까! 더 말씀에 깊이 마음을 드려야 했고…