DON'T BE A FOOLISH OLD MAN

PROCLAMATION

“As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to The Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.”  1 Kings 11:4 (NIV)

EXPLANATION

For as wise as King Solomon was as a young man, his wisdom began to fail him as an old man, or maybe it was just his weakness for women.  Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines, many of whom were from foreign nations which The Lord God had told the Israelites not to marry. (1 Kings 11:1-3)  Solomon did evil in the sight of The Lord and worshiped the idol gods of his wives. (1 Kings 11:5-8)  He would still go through the motions of worshiping The Lord God, but he was not fully and completely into it.

APPLICATION

It does not matter how wise, or smart, or educated, or intelligent we are, if we cannot control our behavior.  The uncontrolled worldly sinful lust has caused many great men, and also many average men, to fall and to lose their influence.  There are countless examples of men who did a lot of good as leaders, but they are now remembered for their shameful downfall.  As we age and get older, we should also get wiser and benefit from our years of experience.  Some of us get so caught up in ourselves and our desires, and we make even bigger mistakes in our old age.  The dictionary defines foolish as “lacking in sense, judgment, or discretion.”  There is a saying, “There is no fool like and old fool.”  As the number of days in front of us gets much smaller than the number of days behind us, let us reflect on our past and see where The Lord God has brought us from and all that He has brought us through.  Let us thank Him and praise Him for all that He has done, let us draw closer to Him in our old age instead of drifting away from Him and making foolish mistakes.