“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”  1 Corinthians 10:12 (ESV)

The story of King Solomon has fascinated me for decades.  You can read about him in 1 Kings chapters one through eleven in the Old Testament.  It is worth studying.

Here was a man who had everything going for him:  a godly father (David), an undivided kingdom given to him with no enemies to fight, wisdom and knowledge beyond measure, wealth, and other blessings too numerous to list.  He even had the God of the universe appear to him on at least two occasions.

To say that Solomon was a blessed man is an understatement.

But with all of his profound blessings, Solomon, known as the wisest man in the world, ended his life on tragic note.  Though his wisdom had blessed so many others, he failed to use that priceless gift for himself and he spurned the very One who gave him his great understanding.  This great man played the fool and his biographer takes pains to reveal why:

“For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.”  1 Kings 11:4 (NASB)

And it wasn’t the case that Solomon had just a handful of wives who were instrumental in causing him to backslide; no, the bible says that he had 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3).  That’s an incredible amount of drama for just one man to handle, no matter how beautiful those women must have been.

It might be easy for us, acting as “armchair generals,” to harshly judge Solomon for his unspeakable backsliding and think, “That could never happen to me!”  But then the words of the apostle Paul slaps us back into reality:

“Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”

The truth is, any one of us can end up like Solomon, because if it happened to the wisest man in the world, it can happen to you and me.  We need to take careful heed lest we also fall.

Someone once said, “Prayer will keep us from sin, and sin will keep us from prayer.”  In trying to understand Solomon’s shocking fall from grace, I believe some of the steps he took to reach the point where he was sacrificing to other gods was his failure to connect with God regularly in prayer.  As reigning sovereign over a vibrant kingdom, with all of its duties, emergencies, distractions and needs, Solomon no doubt failed to carve out of his daily life that necessary intimate and personal connection to his Lord.

My personal responsibilities are as nothing compared to Solomon’s, yet I can see how easily the distractions and responsibilities of daily living can cause me to neglect that all important time with Jesus in my daily life.  Failure to connect consistently with the Lord on a regular basis is a sure marker of walking on the “Solomon Road” to apostasy.

I confess to a certain amount of fear and paranoia when I read of Solomon’s downfall; if it happened to him, how can any of us be spared the same fate?

More in Part two.

“I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of righteousness.” Proverbs 4:11 (ESV)

Taking public transportation is a living classroom to observe some people who do not walk in the way of wisdom.

Since living in Oakland for a little over a month and ministering on the campus of UC Berkeley, I rely on the city bus to get me to and from the ministry house  where I rent a room.  This is the first time in my life I have done this and I must admit it is not my favorite thing to do.

There are many strange people that take the bus.  For example, just this morning, on my way to church, a man was sitting in front of me who was having long conversations with himself.

When I got off the bus to transfer to the next one, the bus stop benches were almost completely taken by homeless people who were sitting and sleeping on them, their shopping carts full of junk parked haphazardly around.

I’m not quite used to this.  Though I cannot claim to live a sheltered life, this is stretching my bounds of comfort.  The Lord is teaching and showing me things through these experiences, but again, I’m outside my comfort zone.

There is a man who rides the bus, sits in the back, and listens to the baseball game–loudly–on his radio.  The first time I saw this he was staring blanking in front of him while his radio droned on for everybody to hear, acting as if everybody on the bus wanted to hear the details of the game as much as he did.  Then he fell asleep, with the radio still blaring.  Evidently, he couldn’t care less who he was bothering.

Oftentimes, we learn the positive side of a biblical precept (in this case the way of wisdom) by observing its negative enactment in realtime (like this guy playing his radio).

What would be a visible example of the “way of wisdom” in the above scenarios?  Clearly, using headphones to listen to the ballgame so others, forced to sit in close proximity to you,  would not be bothered would be a “no brainer,” but I guess some people are so out of touch with reality that they can’t see the obvious.

The way of wisdom is closely aligned with what Jesus said was the second greatest commandment:  love your neighbor as yourself.  When we live our lives being concerned about how our actions affect our neighbors, we are walking in the way of wisdom.

The way of wisdom would not be using the public benches at bus stops as crash pads or long term sitting places.  They are placed there using tax-payer dollars so the people using public transportation can rest, or seek shelter when it is raining.  No rocket science involved here.

Selfishness and self-centeredness are at odds with the ways of wisdom and are mutually exclusive.

How can one break free from the strong chains that bind and blind a selfish and self-centered individual?   Proverbs 9:10 gives us the answer:

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” (NASB)

Are you thirsty for this “way of wisdom”?  This is a key ingredient to becoming a wise man or woman:  you must yearn for it, much like someone who has just labored out in the hot sun for hours longs for a cold glass of water.  Without this prerequisite thirst, one will never step foot on the path of wisdom.

I encourage you to pray and ask the “Lord of wisdom” to open your eyes to see your spiritual need in this area and to give you a longing for it.

“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.  But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.  For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,  being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”  James 1:5-8

“I have taught you the way of wisdom…” (Proverbs 4:11 ESV)

The way of wisdom is contrasted with the way of foolishness.

Many people do not understand the existence of either of these two paths in life.  This is unfortunate, because not knowing about these two paths reveals that one is probably walking in the path of foolishness.

My continuing fascination with the “way of wisdom” never seems to end; you might say that I am obsessed with it.  One reason for this is because of the reality that I have walked far too long in my life in the path of foolishness; this is a disturbing reality.

It is easy to look at others and think, “That person sure acts foolishly,” but it is far more difficult to peer into the mirror and make the same judgment about ourselves.  The facts, though, are clear:  most of us are not walking in the way of wisdom.

The way of wisdom affects every area of our lives, as does the way of foolishness.  One or the other, wisdom or foolishness, will mark the course of our daily lives and determine the quality of our earthly existence.

The way of wisdom can only be realized when our lives are grounded and centered in the Word of God.  More specifically, the way of wisdom is discovered in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ:

“…attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”  Colossians 2:2b-3 (NASB)

So many of us spend inordinate amounts of time on vain and foolish pursuits and activities instead of concentrating and cultivating the way of wisdom.  Like a diet that consists of only sodas and junk food, a life that is fed on only foolishness cannot be expected to be one of health, happiness and purpose.

If you are a young adult male (12-30 years of age) reading my blog, there is perhaps no better advice I can offer you than a systematic study in the book of Proverbs.

A wise pastor I had the privilege of studying under gave us young men in the congregation this excellent piece of advice:  there are approximately 31 days in every month and 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs.  Whatever the day is in any given month, read its corresponding chapter in the book of Proverbs.

For example, today is April 7; you would then read the seventh chapter of Proverbs.  I have tried to follow this advice as much as possible in my life, and now, in my fifties, I still read the book of Proverbs because I desperately need godly wisdom to direct my daily paths.

My hope is that you will discover at least two things in your life:  one, that you need wisdom to guide your life and, two, that this wisdom is personified in the life and teachings of Jesus.  The Bible says He is the living Word of God (John 1:1, 14), and devoting oneself to Him is the best way to starting and staying on the path of wisdom.