When
You appear
in
the Millenial day
Those
who know Your grace
Will
gather like Your sheep
In
the blazing sun of glory
To
come to Your embrace.
-
Cathryne Allen
Monday, 31 August 2026
MILLENIAL DAY
PROVERBS AND ECCLESIASTES
It is
important to consider three practical things when studying these two books of
scripture:
1.
The wisdom given in
these books is wisdom that is applicable to this life only. It is wisdom from a worldly perspective meant
to aid us in earthly life. When Ecclesiastes repeatedly says 'under the sun',
he is meaning he is intentionally restricting his point of view to this world;
2.
The reason we need to
apply wisdom 'under the sun' is because everything is 'vanity'. 'Vanity' in
Ecclesiastes means transitory or fleeting, thus the repeated and frequent use
of this word denotes that he who applies wisdom in his life is wise, for this life
is fleeting and will one day come to an end (Bible Dictionary, s.v.
"Ecclesiastes");
3.
Wisdom in these two
books of scripture is allegorized as a woman because the word 'wisdom' is
feminine in gender thus an adulterous woman in Proverbs is a metaphor for
foolishness as foolishness is the opposite of wisdom.
The most
valuable lesson we can take away from Proverbs and Ecclesiastes is the
admonition 'to trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine
own understanding' (Prov. 3:5). This is true wisdom.
The italic
preface to chapter 8 of Proverbs tells us that 'the Lord and the sons of men
possessed wisdom in premortal life'. 'Sons of men' refers to anyone who has
been born in mortality, in other words, earthly beings.
The wisdom
we possessed in premortal life enabled us to choose the Firstborn as our
Saviour and to fight the forces of evil opposed to the Father's plan. Now that
we are living on the other side of the veil, wisdom is once again needed to
enable us to trust the choice we made so long ago. In this respect wisdom and
trust go hand in hand. One day when this fleeting existence is ended we will
have to account for our use of wisdom by which we conducted our mortal lives.
The other
side of our trust in the Lord is His trust in us: "The Lord wants us to
trust him, but He also wants to be able
to trust us. One of our great prophet leaders said, 'To be trusted is a greater
compliment than to be loved' (David O. Mckay, "Character", True To The Faith, Bookcraft,
1966, p. 274).
One of the
principal purposes of this life is to find out if the Lord can trust us: “One of
our familiar scriptures says, 'And we will prove them herewith, to see if they
will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them' (Abraham
3:25). We are destined to be tried, tested, and proven during our sojourn on
earth to see if we are trustworthy” (Robert E Wells, "The Cs of
Spirituality", Ensign Nov 1978, p 24).
I
tend to agree with the importance of trust. I receive a great boost of
self-esteem when I attend to my responsibilities which are based on this
principle. I learnt about this in great detail many years ago. One of the
self-help gurus I used to follow impressed upon me how much she loves paying
her bills. I was taken aback by it but she assured her readers that paying her
bills increased her self-respect because whenever she paid a bill it affirmed
to her that the person who provided her with a service trusted her to pay for
it.
Even
though I always paid my bills, I had never considered this concept before but I
took it to heart and have seen the benefits of it. To this day I pay all my
bills with cheerfulness and on time. I am never late paying anyone. Whenever I
pay what I owe straight away it not only makes me feel good about my
trustworthy character, but it tells me that I am not poor. I come from a poor
family so not feeling poor goes a long way with me.
I
love that I can be trusted. This principle has infiltrated my spiritual life
too. The importance of being trusted has helped me to stay true to my
convictions and my testimony of the Gospel. I honour the witnesses I have
received from the Holy Ghost regarding Gospel truths to the point of
stubbornness. Whereas I don’t hold it against people who move away from the
Church, I often cannot understand how they can be baptised promising to join
the body of Christ and not following through.
I
have a great desire to meet God one day with a pure heart, having honoured all
my covenants with Him and having done all I could to obey His commandments. I
have sacrificed much over the years to make this desire a reality.
I marvel that You could perceive
every thought of my heart,
Long before you gifted one to me;
That you trusted my will to obey
With You so dim in my memory.
I stand amazed at Your sufferance
Of the struggling sinner like me,
And the steadfast flow of help You
bestow
From the merciful heart that is in
Thee.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
Sunday, 30 August 2026
I WILL FOLLOW THEE
I will follow Thee my God and My All
When I can see no more;
I will trust in Thee
When all hope flees;
I will praise Thy name
When I am left without ease.
I will nurture the seeds of my faith
With tears of my affliction;
Yet will I look up to heaven
And believe in Thy throne;
I will trust in the strength of Thine arms
To lift me and carry me home.
- CATHRYNE
ALLEN
WORTHY OF PRAISE
(Art designed by Digital Portrait Shop)
PSALM
150:1,2,6: Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in
his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his
mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Let everything
that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.
One
of the dominant themes of the Book of Psalms is praise. The entire book ends with
it. Ancient scripture shows us plainly that praising God was very much a part
of religious worship.
The
various heavenly beings that John the Beloved saw on the isle of Patmos in his
Revelation, were all worshipping the Father (Revelation 4:8-11). John also
taught that exalted beings will continue to worship Heavenly Father in the
eternities to come because He will always be our God (D&C 76:21; 92-93). In
response to John’s vision, Elder Neal A. Maxwell affirmed that “we will go on
praising the Lord for ever and ever”. (From
Whom All Blessings Flow, Ensign, May 1997, 12).
The
practice of praising God seems to be a foreign one in our day and age. All our
prayers consist of is thanksgiving and requests. Rarely in our prayers do we
praise God for who He is and what He does.
One
of my favourite scriptures of all is what I call a modern-day psalm recorded by
Joseph Smith:
“Let
the mountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and
dry lands tell the wonders of your Eternal King! And ye rivers, and brooks, and
rills, flow down with gladness. Let the woods and all the trees of the field
praise the Lord; and ye solid rocks weep for joy! And let the sun, moon, and
the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy! And
let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever! And again I say,
how glorious is the voice we hear from heaven, proclaiming in our ears, glory
and salvation, and honour, and immortality, and eternal life; kingdoms,
principalities and powers!” (D&C
128:23)
Whenever
I read this scripture my heart swells with admiration of our God and His
immense power. So well did Joseph understand this power that he felt the very
nature should shout praise to Him who created all things, the greatest of which
is God’s work and His glory to bring about eternal life and immortality of man
(Moses 1:39). This is thanksgiving veiled in praise.
Something
important to remember. We have to know what we praise in God: who He is, what
He does, His involvement in our lives, His love, His constant care, His
greatness. We have to know God. If we do not glean this from our own lives, we
need to do so from the scriptures. Our knowledge of His greatness needs to be
so great that we struggle to find mortal words to express it. This knowledge
needs to be so ingrained in our hearts that
no amount of adversity can take it away from us.
Until
we find utterance for the deserving praise of Him who lives our souls to save,
may we allow our desire to grow until such words flow from the very depths of
our hearts:
I long to praise Thee
With magnitude of words I cannot find
That tell the glory that is Thine.
As I can do so little this desire to
meet,
I place my loyal love at Thy holy
feet.
Saturday, 29 August 2026
RETURN UNTO ME
Return unto me you heavy laden
And I will give you rest.
Return unto me you who are oppressed
And I will give you peace.
Return unto me you who are scarred by sin
And I will make you free.
Return unto me you who are dejected
And I will gather you
Under the shadow of my wings.
Return unto me you who sorrow
And I will give you a brighter tomorrow.
Return unto me you who have forsaken me
And my sons and daughters you shall be.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
THE INNER PRESENCE
PSALM
139:1-7: O Lord, thou hast searched me, and
known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my
thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted
with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou
knowest it altogether…such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I
cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee
from thy presence?
We
are told in our ‘me, myself and I’ world that the greatest thing
we can do is to know ourselves. Most of us are not aware that there is someone
who knows us much better than we can ever know ourselves. I
had a very unusual experience once which proved this truth to me. As I was
reflecting on my joyless life one day, I found myself in my mind in front of
the great Judge, God the Father. He asked me three questions: How did you enjoy
your mortal probation? What do you think you learnt from it? How do you think
you did overall?
An
understanding like no other flooded my being that there was nothing I could
hide or tell half-truths about because He knew the very essence of my being: my
innermost thoughts and intents, my sins, my rebellious moments in response to
my sufferings, the times I had questioned Him and His goodness, my dislikes and
likes, my conduct, my earthly indignities, my ingratitude, everything that made
me tick….there was nothing, absolutely nothing about me or in me that He did
not know. Every time I opened my mouth, nothing would come out. I knew with
every fibre of my being that He knew the answer to every question before I
could form it in my mind.
I
felt like I was transparent before Him. He was not watching me but looking into
the very depths of my soul. It was as if He was the inner presence inside me. I
understood clearly as I understand that day follows night because I can see it,
that God is so inter-connected with His children that it defies our mortal
understanding. We, here and now, do not know and cannot fathom our spiritual
origin or the Father’s connection with His children. God is beyond our
understanding.
Then
hope flooded my being. I had nothing to say and would not need to. There was
someone else who saw into the very depths of my soul during the greatest moment
of suffering known to man. He who absorbed the totality of my life could and
would answer all the questions the Father would have of my conduct on Judgment
Day: my intentions, my achievements, my failings. He, the Advocate who suffered
for my soul would with His strength make up for my frailty (D&C 45:4-5).
And He would do it with mercy.
Elder
Merrill J. Bateman taught that the Atonement was an intimate, personal
experience through which Jesus Christ came to know us individually and perfectly:
“For
many years I thought of the Saviour’s experience in the garden and on the cross
as places where a large mass of sin was heaped upon Him. Through the words of
Alma, Abinadi, Isaiah and other prophets, however, my view has changed. Instead
of an impersonal mass of sin, there was a long line of people, as Jesus felt ‘our
infirmities’ (Hebrews 4:15), our griefs…carried our sorrows…and was bruised for
our iniquities’ (Isaiah 53:4-5).
“The
Pearl of Great Price teaches that Moses was shown all the inhabitants of the
earth, which were ‘numberless as the sand upon the sea shore’ (Moses 1:28). If
Moses beheld every soul, then it seems reasonable that the Creator of the
universe has the power to become intimately acquainted with each of us. He
learned about your weaknesses and mine. He experienced your pains and
sufferings. He experienced mine. I testify that He knows us. He understands the
way in which we deal with temptations. He knows our weaknesses. But more than
that, more than just knowing us, He knows how to help us if we come to Him in
faith” (A Pattern For All, Ensign or Liahona, Nov 2005, 75-76).
We
will come to know fully the meaning of grace and mercy when we are face to face
with the justice of the Father. We will know then who the Saviour truly is…a
sacrifice that none of us could give, a hope of salvation, another God we are
yet to comprehend.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
Friday, 28 August 2026
LONGING FOR HOME
How I long to see Your face
And to come home to You;
To feel our souls knit together
As I know You want this too.
Lift me above this world of doom
Show me the wider view
Where our eternal home awaits me
And the splendour and love of You!
-
Cathryne
Allen
THE REJECTED STONE
Psalm
118:21,22: I will
praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. The stone
which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.
“There
is none other nation on earth that would crucify their God….For should the
mighty miracles be wrought among other nations they would repent and know that
he be their God. But because of priestcrafts and iniquities they stiffened
their necks against him and crucified Him.” ( 2 Nephi 10:3-5)
The
rejection of Jesus as the Messiah came from the Jewish Council of Sanhedrin who
levelled three accusations against the Saviour that led to His death:
1. THEY CLAIMED THAT HE WAS A SINNER
because He wouldn’t conform to the rabbinical laws and traditions of the elders
and the convoluted law of Moses (Mark 7:1-9)
2. THEY SAID HE WAS THE INCARNATION OF
SATAN and that He performed His miracles by the power of Beelzebub (Matt
12:24-27)
3. THEY SAID HE WAS GUILTY OF BLASPHEMY in claiming equality with God, that He said He was the Son of God and that He WAS God (John 8)
-
Bruce
R. McConkie, Mortal Messiah 2, p 394-8
This
is what blows my mind: the mortal life of Jesus was prophesied in such detail
that it is hard to believe the Jews were so blinded that they ‘looked beyond
the mark’ (Jacob 4:14) awaiting another Messiah. The mark that they looked
beyond was the Saviour Jesus Christ. Among many here are some details of His
mortal life contained in ancient prophecies: he would be born in Bethlehem; He
would be preceded by a forerunner; His ministry would begin in Galilee; He
would teach in parables; He would perform miracles; His message would be
rejected; He would enter Jerusalem in triumph on the back of an ass; He would
be sold for thirty pieces of silver; smitten, spat upon and rejected. And the
details of His crucifixion in ancient prophecies are staggering:
-
Psalm
22:1,7-8,16-18: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”; “they pierced my
hands and my feet”, and “They parted my garments among them, and cast lots upon
my vesture”
-
Psalm
69:21: “in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”
-
Zechariah
12:10: “they shall look upon me whom they have pierced”
-
Isaiah
53:3-12: “wounded for our transgressions”, “with his stripes we are healed” and
“he was numbered with the transgressors”.
All this foreknowledge could not have been given to the children of men unless it had come from God who knows all things from beginning to the end and who had revealed it to the prophets throughout the ages by the power of the Holy Ghost.
And
so Judah, the law giving branch of the House of Israel (Genesis 49:10),
“despised the words of plainness” and “sought for things that they could not
understand”, looked past the direct path which Christ was giving them missing
what mattered the most and crucified their King (Jacob 4:14), not knowing that
they sacrificed the ultimate sacrificial lamb of God that would save their
souls.
It
is significant to note that the Messianic Psalm 118 begins with four verses
emphasising that the Lord’s mercy ‘endureth forever’. Psalm 136 carries that
theme of mercy in all 26 verses. The Lion of Judah, Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
is “the stone which was set at naught of builders, which is become the head of
the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other
name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:10-12;
Matthew 21:42; Ephesians 2:19-20; Jacob 4:15-16).
This
rejected stone which the builders refused has indeed become the head stone of
the corner through His mercy which will in the end “redeem Israel from all his
iniquities” for He hath “chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar
treasure (Psalm 129:7,8; 15:4).
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
Thursday, 27 August 2026
ODE TO DAVID
You are my Shepherd,
You are my God and my King,
Your suffering mercy spills
And anoints me still.
I cannot contain Your greatness
Nor Your mercy, compassion,
Or love,
I am the sheep that strayed
From the green pastures of Your heart.
I am Your father David,
On whose throne one day You will sit
Even in the clouds of glory
I will see my Shepherd still.
- Cathryne Allen
THE YIELDING HEART
Art: Jesus Knocking generated by AI by MasterofMoments
PSALM 24:3-5:
Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy
place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his
soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the
Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
There is a lot of
emphasis in the scriptures on an organ in the body that gives us spiritual as
well as the physical life and that is the heart. Spiritually, the heart is the
seat of our emotion, the center of our being where the moral choices live. It
is a conduit for spiritual guidance that enables us to decide our truest
values, commitments and the direction of our lives. It also acts as a bridge of empathy,
compassion and desires. The Biblical and
Christian view is that the heart is the dwelling place of God, where the person
meets the divine.
I went through a period
of time a couple of years ago where I engaged in some serious introspection of
myself and my life. I viewed myself as an emotional female who always followed
her heart rather than her head and ended up with a less than a desirable life.
I wondered if my life would have come to be better if I had made different choices.
What I discovered was that my choices and decisions corresponded perfectly with
the deepest desires of my heart which brought me to God and which was exactly
where I wanted to be. I learnt through my introspection what it means to yield
one’s heart to God:
“Heart, soul, and mind
were the encompassing words of Christ in describing the first commandment,
which is constantly, not periodically, operative (see Matthew 22:37). If it is
kept, then our performances will in turn be fully consecrated for the lasting
welfare of our souls (see 2 Nephi 32:9). Such totality involves the submissive
converging of feelings, thoughts, words, and deeds.” (Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Consecrate
Thy Performance, in CR April 2002)
Consider the imperative
role the heart plays in deciding the state of our being (D&C 121:35-38):
-
When the hearts of men are set on the
things of the world, they will act in ways detrimental to spiritual growth,
including covering their sins, gratifying their pride and vain ambitions and
exercising unrighteous dominion over others. These actions cause the heavens to
withdraw themselves and the Spirit of the Lord to be grieved.
-
When the hearts of men are set on the
things of God, and aspire to God’s approval, they will act in ways beneficial
to spiritual growth, including repenting of their sins, humbling themselves,
seeking the kingdom of God first, and exercising love and charity toward
others. These actions cause the spirit of the Lord to be near and an increase
in power from on high.
If we reflect upon the
world of our day, it is easy to see that we have as a whole rejected the very
first commandment: “Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all
thy mind” (Deuteronomy 6:5). We have neglected our hearts and because of this ‘the whole earth is in commotion
and men’s hearts are failing them, the love of men is waxing cold and iniquity is
abounding’ (D&C 45:26,27). Sin of every kind is dominating us: murder,
rape, fraud, deceit, theft, selfishness, vanity, pride…..
A pure heart is somewhere
that God can live. The more we yield
our hearts to Him, the more of His love will be planted in us. For
that reason, He stands at the door and knocks.
You
knock at the door of my heart
And
I often forget to turn the key.
With
sorrowing steps you retreat
Hoping
that one day
I
will remember Thee.
Of
my undying love
I
give Thee a token,
I
will keep the door open.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
Wednesday, 26 August 2026
THE LONELY ROAD
I met You on the lonely road
And heard You say to me:
You will ever be mine
If you walk with me.
Your presence enthralled me,
Your exquisite love nearly ripped me apart;
I walked away from all else
Just to have You in my heart.
I walk now with Your hand in mine,
The lonely road paved with tears of love
Oh, if only everyone knew where to find You
And long for You to come!
- Cathryne Allen
WHEN HE COMES
Psalm 50:3-5 –
Our God shall come, and shall not keep
silence; a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round
about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he
may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a
covenant with me by sacrifice.
Psalm 96:12,13
– Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of
the wood rejoice before the Lord: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the
earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his
truth.
Psalm 98:8,9 –
Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together before the
Lord; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the
world, and the people with equity.
When the Lord comes the
second time, He will come in the fulness of His glory. The effect of this
fulness on the earth and its inhabitants will be such that:
1.
Mountains will flow down at His presence
(D&C 133:40,44; Micah 1:4)
2.
The waters on the earth will boil (D&C
133:41)
3.
All nations will tremble at His presence
(D&C 133:42)
4.
The sun will hide, the moon will withhold
its light, and the stars will be hurled from their places (D&C133:49)
5.
The wicked will be burned by the
brightness of fire of the glory of the Lord (Malachi 4:1-3; 2 Thessalonians
2:8)
“When Christ comes the
saints who are on the earth will be quickened and caught up to meet him….A change
will come over all who remain on the earth; they will be quickened so that they
will not be subject unto death until they are old. Men shall ‘die’ when they
are one hundred years of age, and the change shall be made suddenly to the
immortal state. Graves will not be made during this thousand years….death shall
come as a peaceful transition from the mortal to the immortal state. (Elder
Joseph Fielding Smith, Way to Perfection, pp 298-99, 311)
Nephi saw us in our day
and testified that the ‘power of the Lamb of God descended upon the saints of
the Church of the Lamb’, and upon the covenant people of the Lord…and we were
armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory’ (1 Nephi
14:14). It is time for us, the covenant people, to rise to that privilege. We
are the chosen for this time and this place to usher in the greatest event of
the history of mankind. The winding up scenes will not be easy, they will not
be pleasant, but they will be worth the sacrifice, the perseverance, the wait…and
when He comes, the tears of the faithful…..
When You appear
in the Millenial day;
Those who know Your grace
Will gather like Your sheep
In the blazing sun of glory
To come to Your embrace.
- Cathryne Allen
Tuesday, 25 August 2026
THE TEARS HE WEEPS
Angels are near me
They want to take me home
To silence my tears
That so often fall.
They want me to see You
Grieving beyond the veil
To make it known
You can feel my pain.
They whisper to tell me
But my grief is too deep
And I cannot hear
all the words they speak.
When a moment of light
Breaks deep in my heart
They tell me of tears You weep
while we are apart.
-
CATHRYNE
ALLEN
(Artist Unknown)
TRAGIC SOLOMON
Art: King Solomon engraving by Gustave Dore [1832-1883]
David’s
concluding psalm of Book 2 is titled “A Psalm for Solomon” which could be understood as
David’s wishes and hopes for his son but knowing of David’s prophetic streak
Psalm 72 presents Solomon as a type of Christ. Consider the following verses to
this end:
·
He shall judge thy
people with righteousness…(v 2)
·
He shall judge the
poor of the people and break in pieces the oppressor (v 4)
·
In his days shall the
righteous flourish and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth (v 7)
·
He shall have dominion
from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth (v 8)
·
Yea, all kings shall
fall down before him: all nations shall serve him (v 11)
·
His name shall endure
for ever…men shall be blessed in him and all nations shall call him blessed (v
17)
·
Blessed be the Lord
God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things (v 18)
I was
surprised when I read this psalm. I would have never made Solomon a type of
Christ. Whereas his father was a disappointment in the case of adultery and
murder, Solomon, in my mind, was worse because he abandoned the worship of the
God who gave him so much wealth and stature in the world. Solomon reigned over
Israel in extravagance and grandeur which lasted for 40 years. This is all it
took to destroy Israel's course forever.
David went
to his grave worshipping the God of Israel with full contrition, a broken heart
and a contrite spirit. Solomon, on the other hand turned his back on Jehovah by
turning his heart to idolatry. His foolishness exceeded all his wisdom. Whereas
he might have started as a type of Christ judging by the abovementioned
scriptures, he went against all that typified him in such a light and concluded
his life as a failure…..and this despite the warning.
Following the dedication of Solomon's temple, the Lord
appeared to Solomon for the second time and acknowledging the dedicatory
prayer, accepted the temple which Solomon dedicated to Him. At the same time,
however, he issued a grave and serious warning to the king of Israel. He warned
Solomon that if he and his children do not keep his commandments and if they go
and serve other gods and worship them, that He will cut off Israel out of the
land which He had given them, that He will destroy the temple which was built,
and 'Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people' (1 Kings
9:6,7). It’s beyond my understanding how he could ignore this warning.
It is interesting to me that the Lord appeared to Solomon
for the first time following Solomon's marriage alliance with Pharaoh, king of
Egypt. This alliance was the greatest act of Solomon's foolishness and the
beginning of his downfall. It was then, nevertheless, that the Lord was willing
to give him the gift of wisdom (1 Kings 3:5,9-13). I don’t know if Solomon came
to believe at this point that God gave him licence to do whatever he wanted
because he proceeded to marry many idolatrous women out of the covenant. That,
in itself, was problematic, but the many political alliances signalled that he
had more faith in them than in God who was willing to fight and win Israel's
battles.
One cannot but think that Solomon used his wisdom to judge other
people in righteousness but not himself…..it’s like he had no common sense. You
might say he was beginning to lose the plot.
God who knows all things from beginning to the end knew
that Solomon was heading in the direction he should not want to go. So why make
the promise of wisdom and wealth and honour if it was going to be all wasted in
the end? I suspect it was more of a punishment than a blessing for Solomon's
fall was proportionate to his greatness. Marrying foreign women who led him and
all Israel into idolatry aborted his ability to endure to the end and changed
the course of Israel's history. From that point on, the history of Israel was a
losing battle fought by prophets against the forces of disloyalty to God.
If we can see the foolishness of people of old but not our
own, we should not get too comfortable. President Spencer W. Kimball gave a
warning to modern Israel regarding idolatry:
“ As I study ancient scripture, I am more and more
convinced that there is significance in the fact that the commandment “Thou
shalt have no other gods before me” is the first of the Ten Commandments. Few
men have ever knowingly and deliberately chosen to reject God and his
blessings. Rather, we learn from the scriptures that because the exercise of
faith has always appeared to be more difficult than relying on things more
immediately at hand, carnal man has tended to transfer his trust in God to
material things.
“Therefore, in all ages when men have fallen under the
power of Satan and lost the faith, they have put in its place a hope in the
“arm of flesh” and in “gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood and
stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know (Daniel 5:23) – that is, in idols.
This I find to be a dominant theme in the Old Testament. Whatever thing a man
sets his heart and his trust in most is his god; and if his god doesn’t also
happen to be the true and living God of Israel; that man is labouring in
idolatry.” (“The False Gods We Worship”,
p 4)
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
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