What do you do when the bottom falls out from beneath you? I don’t know about you, but some people look up, others look around, and yet some jump up. By the end of Solomon’s reign he was experiencing a great fall. He never does look up; he never does look around. In fact, he just keeps acting like this isn’t really happening. But it did happen and it was Solomon’s own fault. And at the risk of being brutally honest, most of the time, when it happens to us, it’s our fault, too. Solomon had followed a path many are on today — it led to God coming against him just as it will for us. Just because God is slow to anger does not in any way indicate he is soft on sin or tolerant of our rebellion. Solomon would suffer from outside trouble, inside trouble and personal frustration. Solomon pursued a path that began with selfishness and led to stubbornness, indifference, resistance and ended in contempt. He should have heeded his own proverbial insights (Proverbs 13:15; 5:22).

But that’s the point isn’t it? Defiant people are people who really do know better and chose not to do it. This is the road to personal misery. Why, because God loves us more than to let us stray away from him. So, if this is the path you have chosen today let’s be clear, Solomon’s great fall like yours will be a result of your own doing and God’s hand. “Then the Lord raised up against Solomon an adversary...” (1 Kings 11:14) The good news is, if you have fallen (or are falling) it’s never too late as long as we have breath in our bodies to look up and acknowledge what’s happened and God will help you up.

Dr. William Burnham is a pastor at Point of Grace Church in Covington. He can be reached at burnhamw@charter.net.