1 Kings 11:4–8 (NKJV) – For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not fully follow the LORD, as did his father David. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
Why do people choose darkness rather than Light? Why do people forget God who made them? The key to remembering and keeping God’s Word is in our resolve to stand up for the Truth and stand firm against the lies. Solomon did not stand firm in God’s wisdom and Truth at a crucial time when he as an elder could have led the people by example in a right relationship with God. Instead he set the stage for even more wickedness to abound by forsaking what was right for the sake of doing wrong. He allowed his heart to be changed! He allowed sacrifices (possibly child sacrifice) to be made to false gods in the Holy Land where God had sought to bless His people through right living. Solomon’s knowledge didn’t change, his sense of propriety changed and with it his resolve to trust in the Lord with all his heart. I would guess that at one point Solomon justified his disobedience with a dark wisdom he felt entitled him to free thought and action (The Lord has made all for Himself, yes, even the wicked for the day of doom (Proverbs 16:4). He must have reveled in all the free eating, drinking, and debauchery that was coupled with the Divine gift of wisdom. The result of that justification he himself penned;
Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor; and this was my reward from all my labor (Ecclesiastes 2:10).
The one thing King Solomon lacked at the end of his days with all his wisdom was the heart to apply it when it really mattered most. One of the greatest mysteries in the bible is how this man who wrote three books of Gods holy and inspired Word could do everything contrary to what he had warned against, and have it be said of him – Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord. The condemnation of mankind is that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil (John 3:19). In this, Christ is giving us the answer to why those who are in darkness are condemned. Here He gives us the clear indication that what a person does reflects who that person is by what they choose to surround themselves with. It has been said, that what you surround yourself with will consume you. If you choose to walk in the night without a light then you risk harming yourself or getting lost. When we do what the world does we are associating ourselves with darkness and its company. It is the knowledge of God that turns us away from evil; it is the knowledge of the world that corrupts our behavior and leads us to sin – Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.” Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God (1 Corinthians 15:33–34).
Those who are in darkness consume but are never nourished by the lies they try to digest. They only grow desperate to consume more and more so that they can feel a semblance of being full. Only in Christ Jesus is fullness of life and that Life is the Light of men! What is clear throughout history is that mankind “chooses” darkness, in the sense of turning a blind eye to what is right, for the sake of fulfilling powerful urges to do what is wrong. They obey these urges through actions of disobedience regardless of knowing deep down inside that they are displeasing God. Remember, the Devil is a better theologian than you. Just because you have wisdom and knowledge doesn’t mean that you have a right heart to use them for the glory of God or to be saved by His grace. Those who come to God must first believe that He is (and this means believing who He is personally – not religiously, philosophically, or theologically) and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). We must continually step into the Light of God to be exposed for what we really stand for and set aside any wisdom of our own that might give darkness an opportunity to blind our eyes from the Truth. Remember the words of our Savior…
The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness (Matthew 6:22–23)!
