and the wealthy wisest king lost everything he had

and the wealthy wisest king lost everything he had

“King Solomon was the wisest, wealthiest, the most educated man that ever lived. But he was a despot who refused to read the Word of God,” said Pastor Daniels.

I was stunned, and uneasy. I turned to look at the man sitting on my left side. Gripped by the message, he was nodding his head. I turned to the right. The woman on my right side was smiling up, a writing pen tapping her lips.

I know Pastor Daniels too well. He is an erudite, updated and a great motivator. Who could say to a mountain move...and the mountain would move. His faith in the word of God is unquestionable. Like a doctor, he diagnoses challenges of life and prescribes the word of God for healing. And often those he attended to go home with perfect healing. His messages are top class, out of this world, and spirit filled.

But today, I am unfilled. I disagree with him.
He is up to some planks. I will catch him. And confront him.

“His chief priest brought in the Ark of God,” the pastor was saying.
“. Nobody, no king had ever opened the Ark before the people. But King Solomon ordered them to open it. When they did, they saw some tablets. They saw the Word of God on the tablets. King Solomon and everyone in the congregation saw it. King Solomon recited it off-hand, said the longest prayer in the history of Mankind…seven and seven days.

But that was the end of it. They dumped the tablets somewhere.

Days roll by. Nobody as well as the King ever touched, read or remembered. Events roll by. Praises of men and women, silver and gold, red sweet wine and women of easy virtues held the king captive. He forgot the Word of God.

Where was the Word of God? He had forgotten the dreams he had had and the promises of God. Where did King Solomon dump it? He wrote the greatest poems but he could not recall once more the Word of God as he did in the beginning of his reign."

I scratched my beard. And shifted on my backside, quite uncomfortable.
What is my Pastor talking about…was he referring to me? Without reading my scriptures, have I disconnected God, I wondered.

“Those tablets he failed to read, the Word of God he failed to meditate on, day by day, were his Achilles’ heels. They were his undoing…his destruction.
But was it late for the old wealthiest, wisest king to change his way and reconcile with God. No, it was not. He could not. He could hardly change his spots. He lost the power to dream…and could hardly dream anymore. He lost the Word…the Covenant of God with his fathers and his people, which would have helped him. Why did he?

How could he have done such a thing?
He disobeyed God. He started favoritism and palace character, and ignored merit. He had the lowest number of ministers and governor in any government in history. But they were his collaborators and the sons of those who dared King David on his sick bed. Others were his in-laws. Many were his wives and concubines who got juice appointments...double promotions. To make his government work, he decreed a triple tax on his people. He had a special governor whose duty was to collect tributes…and he did that in master-slave manner. The people became slaves. The worked and worked in the on their in sweating sun to fill the coffers of King Solomon. Who loved to dine in fats, wine and womanize in high places. He had seven hundred…a thousand wives and concubines, and counting….

His taste for blood is ruthless…brutal…callous, incensed...infatuated. Remember he butchered his elder brother for wanting to take a girl to marry. All the evil doers who ran to the sanctuary of God, holding the poles of the temple as safety net, thinking that the king would forgive them, were hacked done. He confiscated their properties. They were corrupt in his eyes and should be put in their proper places.

Then when the whole world was paying homage, when he was almost at the top of the world, he lost the Word of God. God stop seeing him in his dreams. His wealth began to deplete and disappear, the kingdom began to split, even before his rule ended.

All is vanity…It is good to worship God from youth, he cried in his closet, as regrets and agony sets in. The wisest, wealthiest king became the worse king Israel ever would have. In the official gazette, he did worse things than any king in Israel.”

Then he stopped to preach for a moment, deep fear resting on his face.
“Where is the Word of God today,” he asked.
I stared down at my Bible, and then lifted my head, staring at him.
Our eyes met. His face broke into pert smile.

What will he say next? Is he describing our politicians, their way of life…favoritism…acquisition of wealth and stealing of public funds? King Solomon fed on his people. Are our politicians feeding on their people too?
“Yes... what you have in your hands is the word of God…the grace of God… our Lord Jesus Christ…the Spirit of God. Do you read it? Do you meditate on it? Do you love Christ? If you have lost yours, God will hide his face from you. Your kingdom will split. Everything you have in life will end in vain.
Let us pray.”

I knelt down to pray but could not close my eyes. I was watching him. he had also reaped from the people
Chief Sir Blend and Sir Ray Ighi are sitting at the front pew. They had supported our pastor with their ill got wealth. They built the new church for him and contributed enough in his school buildings. As Governors, where did they get the millions of dollars they gave him? Did they steal public funds…did they win USA lottery or is stolen wealth hidden in the sanctuary of God?

I could not answer these questions…I joined others in the prayers to say,

Amen.

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