Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. The LORD had clearly instructed the people of Israel, “You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.” Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the LORD. [1 Kings 11.1-3]
Nowhere in the Bible is idolatry's way of working (or, modus operandi - M.O.) so clearly identified; both in Solomon's time and for us today.
For a moment, let's look at this situation from Solomon's perspective. We will even see that the Bible itself could be quoted in support of Solomon:
The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, and he receives favor from the LORD. [Proverbs 18.22]
If a wife is a channel through which God bestows His favor, then why didn't a harem full of wives make Solomon the most favored man on earth?
THINK!
If marriage to a woman represents God's favor, why then does marriage to more than one woman represent idolatry? God said this:
You must not have any other god but me. [Exodus 20.3]
God very much wants to bless man - to give him favor. However, God wants to be the sole Provider of that favor. God wants to be our singular source of blessings!
In the economy of man, truly if one wife is good, many more would be better. But God gave specific instruction and even stern warning that in His economy, the blessings ALL must come through Him ALONE.
Now, before we applaud ourselves for compliance in our predominantly monogamous society, we should expand our scope of understanding God's favor (blessings) to be sure we are really doing as good as we think we are.
Debt, insurance, medicine and technology all promise blessings in one way or another. The "blessings" they all promise at a price are all the same blessings God said He would provide freely in exchange for our devotion to Him (which, in New Testament terms is faith in Christ alone). The blessings aren't the problem, but the source of those blessings is.
All too quickly, we justify our idolatry to debt, insurance, medicine and technology by saying, "God provided these blessings," just like Solomon wrote, "The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, and he receives favor from the LORD." But just as more than one wife led to Solomon's idolatry, so more than one source for money, protection, health and conveniences is the first step toward our own idolatry.
I am pretty certain the first few additional wives Solomon added didn't turn his heart away from God unto idolatry. But, how close do we "stand to the edge" to see at what point we fall?
My contention is that debt, insurance, medicine and technology en masse have unwittingly become idols NOW using the exact M.O. of idols THEN to seek out and take credit for that which only God provides.
Imagine Solomon telling his first wife, "You are the only one I am devoted to and the only one I really receive fulfillment from!" But that is precisely what we do when we say to God, "You provide for all my needs," after we commit adultery (idolatry) with debt, insurance, medicine and technology, and then "throw Him a bone" of kudos saying we know it all ultimately comes from Him. I personally don't feel real good about this scenario.
Complicated? You bet! Solomon built a suffocating cocoon of idolatry 700 wives and 300 concubines thick. The mess of sorting that all out to return to monogamy would have been disastrous to Solomon and his kingdom. We must remember that the wives were all of royal birth and so there were political "strings attached" with each of those marriages - divorcing any one of them could have led to war.
And so, the prospect of divorcing the idols of debt, insurance, medicine and technology today is just as disastrously messy, as most of civilized society today depends heavily upon them.
Yes, idolatry has an M.O. and we have become intimately entwined in it.
Father, with all my heart, I believe what is said here is absolute truth. I believe we have taken unto ourselves idols of debt, insurance, medicine and technology, all the while trying to convince You that our devotion and dependence are entirely upon You. What a mess we have made of it all. Forgive us for the blatant "polygamy" found in our relationships with these things. Forgive us for saying Jesus is the center of our lives when our lives revolve around debt, insurance, medicine and technology (as they consume the majority of our time and energy). May the remedy to this idolatry be nothing of man's device, but purely a demonstration of Your power as only You can fix the mess we are in. So be it.
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