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“You must never return to Egypt.” Deuteronomy 17:16 (NLT)

Have you ever wished God would speak to you directly? Many times we believe if we could just hear from Him, we would make different choices and our lives would be so much better off.

God did just that-without even being asked! Solomon had the opportunity of having the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, and he had the crazy privilege of having God appear to him two times. Two times God Himself directly spoke to Solomon!

WOW! How amazing is that? If God would speak to us like that we would forever choose to follow Him and honor Him, right? I mean, what more could we ask for?

1 Chronicles tells the story of Solomon’s first acts as king. He offered one thousand offerings on the bronze altar before the Lord. He spoke with God the first night of his reign, acknowledged God Himself had made him king, and asked for wisdom and knowledge to govern God’s people. Not only did God answer Him, but God added wealth, possessions, and honor like no other king will ever have!

God finished speaking to Solomon in verse twelve and verse fourteen states, “Solomon accumulated chariots and horses….” and by verse sixteen goes on to say, “Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt…”

That may seem like an insignificant detail, but if we go back to Deuteronomy 17, God gave explicit instructions to the nation of Israel, in particular to the king.

 “The king must not build up a large stable of horses for himself

or send his people to Egypt to buy horses, for the Lord has

told you, ‘You must never return to Egypt.’ The king must not

take many wives for himself because they will turn his heart

away from the Lord. And he must not accumulate large amounts

of wealth in silver and gold for himself.”  Deuteronomy 17:16-17

Solomon could have bought his horses from other countries,  but he defiantly sent his merchants back to Egypt to buy horses there.

Why? Why did Solomon do what he wanted and not what God asked? Even with God speaking directly to him. Even with God adding multitudes of extra blessings on him. King Solomon, the wisest man who has ever lived, still decided what he wanted was greater than what God wanted.

Why do we do the same?

Sometimes we forget what God wants and asks. When we are not spending time in His Word, we can become like the people in Judges where everyone just, “did what was right in his own sight.”

We may also assume we know what God wants. God answered our prayer yesterday, so we neglect consulting Him today.

We second guess God or try to justify our actions. Surely God didn’t mean ________. Fill in the blank.

Our lack of humility also rears its ugly head. We are sure we know best. Sadly, we just do our thing for so long, we can be used to being the one calling the shots and not include God in our lives.

Seems as if we are not that different from King Solomon.

When we realize we are making our decisions on our own, we need to repent and change directions or we will continue walking away from Him.

Solomon continued on, and he violated all three of the instructions God gave in Deuteronomy. He did get his horses from Egypt, he took many wives for himself, and he accumulated large amounts of wealth for himself, over and above what God blessed him with. It was not until the end of his life, when he wrote Ecclesiastes, that he realized the waste of not allowing God to be the Driver of his life and bow his heart to our King.

While we still have today, let us humble ourselves to Him, acknowledge Who He is, and actively decide to follow Him each day.

We will never regret choosing Jesus and giving our lives to Him.

“Father, help us to follow You and allow You to be our God.”

For His Glory

Terrie Tollerson (www.TerrieTollerson.com)
TRBC Women’s Life