Wisdom Without Obedience is Useless

Not only must we seek God for His wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, but we also must pray to have hearts that are obedient to Him. Ultimately our choices have repercussions, and a lack of obedience can limit our blessings from the Lord. King Solomon can teach us a wonderful example of this.

The LORD was very angry with Solomon, for his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.

He had warned Solomon specifically about worshiping other gods, but Solomon did not listen to the LORD’s command.

So now the LORD said to him, “Since you have not kept my covenant and have disobeyed my decrees, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants.

1 Kings 11:9-11

The Context:

The Lord loved Solomon, and delighted in him. He sat him on the throne of Israel, to execute justice and righteousness over His beloved people. In the previous chapters of 1 Kings, God gave Solomon more wisdom than any other man, along with great riches and fame, because Solomon loved the Lord and sought Him above all else. (Are You Seeking the Right Things?)

Solomon had it all.

But it wasn’t enough.

His heart led him to love and mingle with women from other nations. Women the Lord had specifically placed off-limits, because the Lord knew that these women would turn away the Israelites hearts from Him and to false gods.

In 1 Kings 11:4, this is exactly what happened to Solomon, and his heart was not complete and whole with God. His disobedience angered the Lord, and there where repercussions for Solomon’s choices.

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

And he lost everything.

Apply It:

Okay, so what can we learn from this passage of text??

Solomon had godly wisdom, but he didn’t use it well. He still disobeyed God’s instructions. This shows us that even people who posses great knowledge, still mess up.

It’s one thing to know what to do, and another to actually do it, OR in Solomon’s case not do it. Having a heart of obedience is very important.

This passage of text shows us that wisdom without obedience can be useless.

How do we cultivate a heart of obedience??

Make sure it is always turned towards the Lord.

Solomon was doing everything right, until his heart was turned away from God by his disobedience. He allowed the wrong people and the wrong distractions to enter his life.

Has anyone or anything entered your life recently to distract your heart from God??

Is there anything in your life that is keeping you from following God completely or limiting the Holy Spirit within you??

These are very serious questions.

The enemy will do everything within his power to turn your heart away from God, he will surround you with the wrong people and limitless distractions.

Be intentional about asking God to help you identify and eliminate anything that has the potential to limit your relationship with Him.

I’m grateful for the verses above, because they remind me to not only seek godly wisdom, but to always apply it to every area of my life.

They remind me to keep my heart turned towards God. To do this I’ll need to ask for God’s help identifying the wrong people and the wrong distractions in my life.

And last, but definitely not least, I’ll need to be obedient to His Word- here’s a friendly tip my darling, you can’t be obedient to something you don’t know- read your Bible!

It’s so important that we work to limit our distractions.

 Keep the right people close to us and the wrong people at a far distance.

 We must establish our values from the Word of God, and keep His scriptures close to our hearts.

All these things will help us to cultivate a heart of obedience to the Lord.

Because just like Solomon’s actions of disobedience had serious repercussions, so can ours!

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