READ: PSALM
51:1-15
As children
of God we all desire prosperity and physical comfort. However, we must not lose
sight of the fact that living in the realm of comfort can often be likened to
living in a danger zone. If you are not careful, comfort may lure you to sleep.
It is unfortunate that many who start out on a good note often fall by the
wayside. It appears many wait for God’s blessings before they start showing
their true colour. Let us take a serious look at David and Solomon. David
started well. God took him from being a shepherd boy and turned him into a
king. This was a blessing. He had many enemies but God deal with them. His
father-in-law, King Saul, was also after him for years but God took control.
David had peace, power, comfort and prosperity. At a time he was supposed to be
enjoying God’s blessings, as he was strolling in his palace, he saw a woman
taking her bath. David used his position as king to bring the woman into his
palace. Before long, the woman became pregnant. He tried to get his husband to
lie with her but this did not work. He then hatched a plan that got the man
killed (2 Samuel 11:1-7). God cursed David that the sword would never depart
from his house. His blessing became a curse. Many, even when they hardly find
enough money to feed and pay their bills, praise the Lord and seek after Him.
However, when comfort comes, they become slack. Vigils, prayer meetings and
fasting then become strange to such people. It was comfort that pulled down
David. Fortunately, he was wise enough to run back of God for forgiveness and
mercy (Psalm 51:1-15). God restored him but the sword has never left the house
of David. We have another example in Solomon who became king after David. When
he was young and God asked him what he wanted, Solomon asked for wisdom and
understanding to lead his people correctly. This pleased God and he was given
wealth, property, fame, long life and victory over his enemies, in addition to
wisdom and understanding. Soon, Solomon prospered (2 Chronicles 9:13 and
25-27); he began to marry wives. He got 300 wives and 700 concubines and these
began to demand that he build temples for their gods, and he consented. God
decided to deal with him (1 Kings 11:7-11). When Salomon was about to die, he
summarized his life by saying, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity”.
MEMORIZE:
1 KINGS 11:1 –But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the
daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and
Hittites-
