"The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was 666 talents, not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the land. " 1 Kings 10:14,15
This amount, according to my footnote says that 666 talents is about 25 tons of gold. And here is more from a little later on in chapter 10.
"King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart. Year after year, everyone who came brought a gift—articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons and spices, and horses and mules." 1 Kings 10:23-25
God blessed Solomon richly and abundantly- so much so that silver was deemed worthless, because it was so plentiful. God followed through on the promises that he had made to David to prosper his family and bless them. But God has also issued a warning to Solomon.
"As for you, if you walk before me in integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, 'You shall never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.' "But if you or your sons turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples." 1 Kings 9:4-7
And wouldn't you know, what did Solomon do? He didn't heed the warning. In his lifetime, Solomon married 700 wives and many of them had come from foreign lands where they worshipped other gods. One of God's warnings to the people had been to avoid marrying with these people because they would turn away from Him and be swayed to follow these other gods. And Solomon did just that. Because he loved his wives, he allowed them to worship their gods, and he built altars and places of worship for them. And he turned his eyes away from his own God.
"So the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen." 1 Kings 11:11-13
What boggles my mind and really makes me think this morning is that Solomon was dripping in blessings. People came from the ends of the earth to meet this man who God blessed so richly. His people and his land prospered because of God's blessings upon his life, and Solomon simply turned away from that. I just cannot fathom why he would choose to turn his back on the God who gave him everything he had- including the wisdom for which he was famous. Yet, here in the verses, we see that he simply shifted his focus, and that, ultimately, was what did him in. Solomon shifted his focus away from solely on God, and shifted it to the 1000 women he had in his possession. And those women, in turn led him to the other gods that he began giving some devotion and worship to. We can learn from this.
We can do our best to remember Solomon. When good times are upon us and God is blessing us abundantly, we can remember what Solomon did, and keep our focus and our praise on God. We can continue to thank him and worship him for the blessings he has provided. I could see how it would be easy to let things and stuff get in the way of praising God. I could easily see how wealth could provide more and more opportunities to be away from the presence of God and away from that precious day of rest. You buy yourself a boat, and before you know it you justify taking a lazy Sunday to sail across the water. And you've enjoyed it so much that you do it again, and again, and again, and before you know it, it's been a month since you've been to church, and hey, there's that trip you've been meaning to take, what's a few more weeks away from church, and then poof. Just like that, God has taken a backseat. By remembering Solomon and his example, we can strive to do the opposite. We can strive to keep our focus on God.
What comes from Him can bless us abundantly, we just need to be prepared for those blessings. That is one of the reasons we go through times of change and growing, it's to prepare us for the abundance that God wants to bless us with. How we handle the abundance the first time around may set the stage for future blessings as well. When we're in dire straights, and we are blessed with a sum of money- what's the first thing we do with it? It used to be that we would take the opportunity to have the extra cash and go do something special. We'd go out to dinner or go buy something frivolous. We had our focus on ourselves, and what we could do with that money to make our lives better. But when we shifted that focus, when we had that sum of money and rejoiced first in the fact that we were able to put something in the offering plate, that's when we began to see that shift. We focused on God. We thanked him for providing that paycheck or that bonus or that surprise gift of cash, and then we gave a portion of it back to him. We also asked for an opportunity to pay it forward and that He bless the giver of that gift hundred-fold.
When you keep the focus on God, the money doesn't matter so much. (And this really wasn't where I intended to go today with the devotional, yet here it is.) This past winter as we watched the bills pile up and get bigger and bigger I just had to thank God. I had to thank Him for the lesson we were learning about debt, and I also thanked Him because I knew the means were coming to take care of them. Sure, a large part of me prayed for a miraculous answer, for the bills to simply go away. But no matter the means, isn't any of it miraculous? The fact that Andy's been prosperous at work has meant that those back bills have been disappearing one at a time. Not because of his hard work or my diligence at paying the bills, but because God provided for us. But first and foremost-the number one lesson that we have learned is that we have to keep God our focus, and keep God number one.
From every dollar that comes into the bank account, a portion goes back to God. God wanted to deal with us on that first, he wanted us to get into the routine of tithing. And this year, not only have we been tithing on the income, but also on the extras. Our regular tithe goes to church, our tithe from the extra income goes to other ministries that God places on our heart to support. When we tithe, we never, ever miss the money. But Erika, you're saying, it's easy to not miss the money when your paychecks are so nice. And that is so true, but. (Yes, there is a but.) Before we could get to where we are now, we had to start at the bottom. We started by tithing off those teeny tiny unemployment checks. We did not have enough coming in to make ends meet, yet we began tithing off that tiny bit. And as God saw that we were being responsible with what was coming in, he began increasing. We delighted completely the day Andy's first paycheck came in and I was able to call Andy and tell him how much our tithe check was going to be. We praised God with all our hearts that we were able to give back to him a portion of what he blessed us with.
And along the way, we've also learned about extra giving. And this, perhaps, is where we've seen the most growth. I know you know what I'm talking about today. You're sitting in church, and a missionary is visiting, and the church goes to take an extra offering, and there's one part of you that so wants to put that $20 in the plate, but you also know that's your last bit of money until Wednesday, and you'll need it for gas. What do you do?
Do you know that when you follow through on an act of blessing of this nature, it comes back to you? There was one week, not that long ago, where I felt that God wanted me to give to GodTV. We've been watching GodTV quite a bit, and the channel itself has been such a blessing. When we feel down and out, we just pop on GodTv and let whatever is on flow into our hearts and soul and it's almost like an infusion straight from God. But there was one day, I really felt strongly that I should give to GodTV. It was strange to me, because I was used to tithing, I wasn't used to spontaneous giving. Yet I did. I went online, and a few clicks later I'd made my donation, and I prayed that we wouldn't need that money ourselves in the days to come, and also prayed that God would take that donation and multiply it where it was needed for GodTv. Now, I am totally telling the truth here that two days later, Andy comes home from work with a lump sum of extra cash in his hands. Some co-workers had taken in scrap for recycling and shared the money with him from taking it in. Andy came home with double what our donation had been.
God will bless a cheerful giver every single time. When you are focused on God, that giving is done cheerfully, because you know God is behind your motivation for doing so. If you're putting that twenty bucks in the offering plate, but seething on the inside because you really don't want to do it, you're in the wrong frame of mind, and you're not focused on God. We need to not be like Solomon and allow the ways and things of this world to distract us. We really don't need that fancy new car, that state-of-the art computer, the latest video game system or that really cool new camper. We need God, and he will provide the rest. Cross my heart. Focus on God, and all the rest will fall into place. Show him that you can be trusted with a little, and he will increase that little to a whole lot- because that's what he wants for you. He wants to bless you and provide for you, but he also wants to know that you're going to be responsible with what he does give you.
"Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.
19"After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.'
21"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
22"The man with the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.'
23"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
24"Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'
26"His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28" 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 25:14-30
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