February 12, 2024
Passage Read: 1 Kings 10-13
Meditation Verses: 11:6-10
Thought
The Law of God for Israel did not allow for freedom of religion in the sense that people could worship any god they desired. God commanded that Israel as a nation and a people worship only the Lord. Any foreigner who chose to dwell among them was also required to worship the Lord only. There was one law, for native and alien who dwelt in Israel. The Lord is the only true God, so He did not permit His people to worship any other god. The other nations could worship whatever god they wanted, but not within the borders of Israel. Solomon in his "wisdom"—in his foolishness—decided that it was OK for his wives of foreign descent to worship their gods within the border of Israel. This just brought the worship of false gods to God's people, a practice that hadn't been noted at least through the reign of David, and possibly also in Saul's reign. Now it was back, and it became a stumbling block to the whole nation.
Application
There are countless false gods, but only one true God. And any nation or people who desire to know and serve the true God must acknowledge that all the others are false. But we didn't enshrine the God of Israel in our Constitution as the only God for our country, and so we have allowed foreigners who emigrate here to bring their own gods. That has corrupted our nation and taught people that there is no one true God. It has affirmed the idea that gods are the creation of men, and we can worship whatever god we want, or no god at all, because none of them are real anyway. The thing God warned against has come to pass even here, and our forefathers were fools to ignore the truth. The day is coming when God will reclaim this earth and cast out all the false gods from all nations. He alone will be God, there will be no other god named among men. Men today need to hear that message; believers today need to understand that truth, that there is nothing good that comes from permitting others to worship whatever god they desire. It only condemns them to eternal torment.