My Wife Made Me Do It
Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
My dear encountered couple:
It certainly is a mystery, isn’t it? Solomon with all his wisdom and riches seems to have slipped away from the God who gave him all that wisdom and riches, and turned to false gods. How could that have happened?
The person who wrote about this turn of events seems to blame it on his wives. He writes quote, “When Solomon was old his wives turned his heart to strange gods, and his heart was not entirely with the Lord his God as the heart of his father David had been. He adored Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the idol of the Ammonites.” And then goes on to tell how he built places of worship not only to these two gods but to many others that were worshiped by his foreign wives. How could Solomon have done such a thing? Not very wise for a wise man, was it?
The author mentioned Solomon’s “heart was not entirely with the Lord.” That must be the key. Jesus had said that where our treasure is, there also is our heart. And that we can’t serve two masters. We must choose one and turn from the other. That is what must have happened to Solomon. In the beginning, he gave his heart to the One True God and served him fully and first at all times. But then little by little other loves crept in and stole his heart away until his first love was practically forgotten.
As long as we are breathing this world’s oxygen many things will try to take over our hearts. Every day, from morning to night, we must keep aware of our dependency on God, not only for our daily bread, but for the grace to choose him above all other loves that pull at our heart strings. Somewhere along the line Solomon’s head was turned, and soon to follow was his heart. It can happen to anyone. Don’t let it happen to you.
