Have you ever embarked on a series of actions that you knew were dangerous and bound to lead to some sort of catastrophe? Or perhaps you’ve done something to offend someone you love and then tried to “make it up” to them – giving a gift to pacify their anger. If the person knows that you are honestly sorry for your actions, that gift might be well received.

My family and I visited the ancient ruins of Hazor in Israel. We discovered what was left of Solomon’s three thousand year old buildings located in the fortified city mentioned in the Bible reading. What an experience!

This Bible passage is another demonstration of an answer to the prayer Solomon made at the beginning of his reign. He had asked God: “Give me an understanding heart, to govern your people and distinguish right from wrong…” (1 Kings 3:9). The Lord made him the wisest man on earth and, as a bonus, the richest man as well.

Although the Lord is merciful and patient, he is also just and altogether wise. If he sets limits to our freedom, it is because we need them.

Perhaps Solomon considered himself wiser than he was? He did not obey God and his foreign wives eventually led him to turn away from the source of his prosperity and to prostrate himself before idols. God was right and the results were disastrous.

The Lord had set before Solomon the path of blessing and the path of disfavour. Solomon did not choose the path of blessing, and God put his plan into action before Solomon’s death. God had foreseen that Jeroboam would be king over ten of the tribes of Israel. He now sent the prophet Ahijah to prepare Jeroboam.

The consequences of Solomon’s idolatry came to pass just as God had declared through the prophet Ahijah. Rehoboam thought that he was the only one who decided on the path to take, but it was not so. Verse 15 explicitly tells who had established his plan: “…for it was a turn of events from the Lord…” We can learn a few lessons from this.

I stared at the small card on the breakfast tray and laughed out loud. I had just given birth to my first child and my heart felt like it might burst. And there, in black and white, was the cry of my heart: Psalm 103: “Praise the Lord O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.”

How could I do anything else?