Making Decisions (2)

Goodday guys, read and remain blessed.

Solomon saw the wisdom in building a befitting temple for the worship of God, and he took steps to accomplish it. He arranged with Harman, king of Tyre for the supply of timber for this purpose. The timber was supplied and the temple was built. Solomon officiated at the dedication of the temple and he himself offered the dedication prayer.

Solomon began his prayer by declaring God to be supreme, both in heaven and on earth. He asked God to fulfill his promise to David, that his descendants would forever sit on the throne of Israel.

Solomon affirmed that God was everywhere. Yet, he should out his name in the temple where people could come and out their supplications before Him. God would listen to the supplications of the people and forgive them.

Solomon then outlined the various situations in life when the people could bring their petitions before God. If a dispute arose among the people and one was made to swear an oath, God would judge the case by condemning the guilty and vindicatingbthe righteous. When the Israelites were defeated in battle because they had sinned against Him and they came before Him in the temple and asked for forgiveness, He would listen to them and forgive them. When there occurred drought, famine, pestilence, blight, mildew, locust, or caterpillar because the people had sinned against Him and the people came before Him in the temple and asked for forgiveness. He would listen to them. If a stranger came to pray in the temple, He would listen to Him.

Solomon ended his prayers by saying that God was the giver of all things and the stronghold of Israel.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SOLOMON'S DEDICATION PRAYER

Solomon was wise enough to admit in the dedication prayer that God is omnipresent, that is, He is everywhere and therefore, cannot be confined to the four walls of s building such as the temple. Yet, the temple was to symbolise the presence of God in such a special way that the people would feel His presence there, fellowship with Him and put their petitions to Him in a personal and intimate way. And God who is merciful and gracious would answer their prayers. Solomon also made provisions for the foreigners to worship in the temple, thus contributing to our knowledge that God of Israel is the God of the whole world.

The lesson we learn here is that we are to feel the presence of God whenever we pray to Him. He is at hand to hear us and answer our prayers. But, we are not to make the mistake of believing that it is only in the church thath the presence of God can be felt, so that we only put on our best behaviour when we are in church and not outside. God's presence is everywhere and we should endeavour to be holy in all that we think, feel, say or do anywhere and at anytime.

UNWISE DECISIONS

Solomon was not consistent with his wise decisions, which made him very popular. From the middle of his reign onwards, he took unwise Decisions which made his people suffer. He introduced high taxation and forced unpaid labour. He also decided to give up the worship of God for the worship of foreign gods that his foreign wives brought into Israel. Solomon's son, Rehoboam who ruled after him also took unwise decisions. When the people begged him to reduce the high taxation and to do away with the forced unpaid labour, he refused. The result was the revolt which led to the break up of the kingdom of Israel.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE UNWISE POLICIES OF SOLOMON

The unwise decisions of Solomon had disastrous consequences on the economic, social, religious and political dress of Israel's life. The people suffered as the heavy taxation and forced unpaid labour seriously affected their economic and social lives. The standard of living fell as the economic hardship increased. The religion was adulterated by the introduction of foreign firms of worship of Yahweh since it had a strong moral influence on the society. The feeling of the people were ignored and this led to popular resentment against Solomon's rule.

God did not spare Solomon for his unwise decisions. He was to lose a major portion of the kingdom. This shows that God will always punish those who disobey Him, irrespective of their positions. We must learn to obey God, no matter the positions which we occupy. Solomon was insensitive to the peoples' feelings in spite of the hardship under heavy taxation and forced unpaid labour. As future leaders, we must learn to be sensitive to the feelings of our people. Inspite of all the warnings , Solomon refused to change as he refused to be corrected. From this we must learn to change when our decisions are wrong or unpopular. What we have to learn here is the need to avoid unwise decisions, which never fail to have a pernicious influence on all segments of the society. As Christians, we must work not only to avoid unwise policies but fight against them within the framework of the laws of the land.

Thanks for reading. See you in my next article. Bye👍