February 6, 2023
It’s More Blessed to Follow Good Advice
than to Give It
Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth. (Psalms 5:18 NLT)
Precious one, it doesn’t take a leader very long to realize that it’s easier to give good advice than to follow it. King Solomon proves the point. The wisest of Kings didn’t hold back when it came to warning his people against adultery. He tells us repeatedly and with great conviction that only fools fall into adultery! Perhaps he expressed himself so strongly because of his father, David, who brought on himself no end of trouble through his illicit affair with Bathsheba. (2 Samuel 12:10-12 NLT) From this time on, your family will live by the sword because you have despised me by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own. “This is what the Lord says: Because of what you have done, I will cause your own household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another man before your very eyes, and he will go to bed with them in public view. You did it secretly, but I will make this happen to you openly in the sight of all Israel.”
Solomon counseled other men to stay home and find contentment ‘with the wife of their youth.’ (Psalm 5:18) The king knew very well the spiritual issues at stake in marriage because he declared, ‘the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He considers all his paths. (Psalms 5:21) Yet somehow, the same leader failed to heed God’s explicit warning against kings taking many wives. (Deuteronomy 17:17) The king must not take many wives for himself, because they will turn his heart away from the Lord. And he must not accumulate large amounts of wealth in silver and gold for himself. Solomon blatantly disobeyed this command and married seven hundred women. How in the world does one man take care of 700 women? The result? ‘In his old age, his wives turned his heart toward other gods, and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God just like his father. (1 Kings 11:4) Wise not only give good advice, but they also heed it. How different the fortunes of Israel might have turned out had Solomon acted on the wisdom he so forcefully expressed to others!
