The Battle of the Intellect...

You’d think wisdom would prevent someone from falling away from God, right? Here in 1 Kings chapter 11 we read of Solomon, the wisest man ever to live, went against God’s commands, married over 700 wives, and failed to worship God whole-heartedly. The consequences were tremendous. You see sin is anything that opposes God, or goes against His Word. He knows the behaviors that lead us away from Him, that’s why SIN is such a big deal. And no matter how wise you are, without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, our fleshly nature will overcome our intellect every time. Wisdom has to be applied with the assistance of God, in order to be truly wise. Knowing something, and applying that knowledge are two different things. Here we see this principle played out in Solomon’s life. When you fail to listen to God in obedience, you will always lose out, regardless of how wise you think you are. If you struggle with the battle of the intellect, seek God’s guidance first and foremost. He will provide all that you need to remain faithful in times of uncertainty.

1 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. 2 The Lord had clearly instructed the people of Israel, ‘You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.’ Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. 3 He had 700  wives of royal birth and 300  concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the Lord.4 In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the Lord his God, as his father, David, had been. 5 Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 In this way, Solomon did what was evil in the Lord’s sight; he refused to follow the Lord completely, as his father, David, had done.7 On the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, he even built a pagan shrine for Chemosh, the detestable god of Moab, and another for Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 Solomon built such shrines for all his foreign wives to use for burning incense and sacrificing to their gods.9 The Lord was very angry with Solomon, for his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 He had warned Solomon specifically about worshiping other gods, but Solomon did not listen to the Lord’s command. 11 So now the Lord said to him, “Since you have not kept My covenant and have disobeyed My decrees, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants. 12 But for the sake of your father, David, I will not do this while you are still alive. I will take the kingdom away from your son. 13 And even so, I will not take away the entire kingdom; I will let him be king of one tribe, for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, My chosen city.” 1 Kings 11:1-13