Turned Out
Now king Solomon [defiantly] loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the very nations of whom the Lord said to the Israelites, “You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for the result will be that they will turn away your hearts to follow their gods.” Yet Solomon clung to these in love. [Deut 17:17] He had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away [from God]. For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not completely devoted to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David.
1 Kings 11:1-4 AMP
True humility forces you to accept the full scope of your reality. You are a king, called by God to accomplish world-shifting events in the spheres of influence you find yourself in. Your words hold weight. Your presence shifts rooms. You are a person of great influence and impact, but you are also a person who can be greatly influenced and inflicted. You are not invincible. You have the power to almost passively impact the worlds around you, but you also have the potential of being subconsciously influenced by that very same environment you were called to shift.
A heavyweight champion, known for knocking out his opponents, should not get so arrogant that they forget it is possible for them also to be knocked out in the right conditions. Your power proves that power is possible. The same impact that you can exhibit outwardly can be turned to affect you inwardly if you aren’t careful.
Solomon was one of the most powerful and impactful kings in history; however, he was not invincible or impermeable. The Bible says that he had a soft spot for women, and intimacy with women who didn’t share the same foundation actually shifted his foundation. The Bible says that his heart was turned from the very source of his power, intellect, wealth, and resources because of what Solomon allowed to get close to him.
The Proverbs tell us to guard our hearts because even great men like Solomon can fall with the wrong people close to them. We are never too wise, rich, powerful, or prosperous to be negatively impacted by the world we allow around us. The Bible cautions us to guard our hearts with vigilance because from them flow the springs of life. God knows that the rest of our lives and actions can be impacted by what we allow to change our hearts.
Remember that in Biblical literature, your heart isn’t just a physical organ, it’s the seat of your will and emotions. It’s your motivations and values. The Bible is telling us to guard who we are at the core because it will impact everything that flows out of us.
Have you ever been to the White House? Or even the capital building of a state? Have you seen how much security and defense is placed around someone like a president or governor? People who have influence are protected and isolated because people know that an attack aimed at them would be an attack aimed at everything they influence. The people who get an audience with the president are highly vetted and researched because intimacy with someone of influence can be powerful. That is the type of defense that we are asked to arrange for the seats of our own mind, will, and emotions.
The question for us today is what, or more specifically, who, are we allowing to get close? As both men and women, we have to recognize the common soft spots that the devil desires to exploit. In Deuteronomy, the kings of Israel are specifically reminded to be cautious against the influence of women and wealth because God knew that they would be among some of the most appealing and effective vices used by the devil to derail us. Many of us can agree that money and the pursuit of it can change people, but many of us turn a blind eye to the influence of women. Money is one of the things referred to the most in the Bible. It’s important. Wealth is a good thing, but we are also told that we cannot serve two masters and that when the tool of money is misplaced, it’s destructive. Money and women can be similar. They’re good things that can be abused and used to detrimental effects. In the Book of Proverbs, we are told that whoever finds a wife finds a good thing and receives favor from the Lord, but we are also reminded in seemingly every chapter of how dangerous the wrong woman in our lives can be.
Like with money, women aren't an inherently bad thing. They can accomplish great good for the glory of God, but like moneyy, they can also be misused to derail what God wants to do through and around us. Women can be a great thing and the right woman by your side can unlock a sense of favor from God that isn't possible without her. However, the wrong one can hold you back, set you up, and tear you down from the platforms and positions God has placed in your potential.
All through history, women have been used as assailants and assassins because of their unique gift of influence and ability to sneak through many of the defenses of powerful men. Both countries and corporations have recognized the unique gift of influence that women possess and have described this form of manipulation as a “Honey Trap” or “Honey Pot.” It is nothing new for women to be forced, victimized, or asked to be used as pawns in everything from political dissension to small-scale sales tactics.
The term “Femme Fatale” or fatal woman is a character archetype in literature that is often modeled after the story of Mata Hari. Mata Hari was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of infiltrating the ranks of powerful men to gather information as a spy for Germany in World War 1. You can search through history to see many women who positioned themselves or were used in this fashion. Another example is Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt that historians believe that used her charm and political savvy to influence and manipulate both Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony, some of the most powerful leaders in the world of that day. She wielded influence over influential men that would have significant consequences for both Rome and Egypt. While historians often debate the details and motives of these accounts, it can not be denied that men often have a soft spot for women that can be strategically exploited.
This concept is nothing new. In the Bible, we see Delilah being used by the Philistine government to take down the war hero they couldn't fight on their own. She was hired to charm and seduce her way past Sampson’s defenses so that they could attack. Enemies routinely used women to steer powerful men in ways they could not. They used them to reach men they couldn't reach. Could it be that when the devil can't reach you himself, he attempts to get you to invite his operatives in? When he can't open the door to your life because God has sent up a hedge of protection, he relies on you to let negative influences in yourself. This is what we see the devil doing with one of the wisest and most powerful kings we read about in Biblical literature. God has greatly blessed Solomon with wealth and resources. He has protected and prospered him, but Solomon starts to seek out and invite the very enemies that God had rescued his people from right into the palace.
This is important to note because our society pushes men to find value in their ability to amass access to women. We are blinded by our pursuit to the point that we don’t realize that many of us are initiating intimacy with the very people God wants to rescue us from. We are taught to put all of our energy and effort into the pursuit of women, however, many of us don't seem to recognize that the people we are bringing close to us may be the very ones that are sent to be our Delilah.
Proverbs spends a lot of time warning us to avoid this common trap. Solomon, in his compiled commentaries on wisdom, touches on his learned experience. Proverbs 5 says, “My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen carefully to my wise counsel. Then you will show discernment, and your lips will express what you’ve learned. For the lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil. But in the end she is as bitter as poison, as dangerous as a double-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave. For she cares nothing about the path to life. She staggers down a crooked trail and doesn’t realize it. So now, my sons, listen to me. Never stray from what I am about to say: Stay away from her! Don’t go near the door of her house! If you do, you will lose your honor and will lose to merciless people all you have achieved. Strangers will consume your wealth, and someone else will enjoy the fruit of your labor. In the end you will groan in anguish when disease consumes your body. You will say, “How I hated discipline! If only I had not ignored all the warnings! Oh, why didn’t I listen to my teachers? Why didn’t I pay attention to my instructors? I have come to the brink of utter ruin, and now I must face public disgrace.” Drink water from your own well— share your love only with your wife. Why spill the water of your springs in the streets, having sex with just anyone? You should reserve it for yourselves. Never share it with strangers. An evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him. He will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his great foolishness.”
Proverbs 5:1-17, 22-23 NLT
Could it be that the people you seek out for comfort, companionship and conquest are the very ones used to curtail us away from the things God has called us to? Could it be that the people we let our guards down with are the very people who want to take us down? This is why it's so important to know who you are and what you're called to. When you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything. When you don't have standards, you don't guard your heart. When you don't recognize the value of your life, you invite anyone to be a part of it. You have to be able to tell the difference between a relational asset and a relational liability.
Be careful who you allow in your inner circle. Be careful who you allow to speak to your dreams and desires. Be careful who you allow to speak life and death into you. I’ve seen the most gifted, ambitious, and potentially filled leaders and visionaries be derailed because they linked themselves to people who held them back instead of pushing them forward. Don’t be like Solomon. The Bible says to flee this type of influence, not fight it. This isn’t something you want to battle at close range, it’s something you want to avoid.
I don’t want you to think I’m dogging on women. Anything or person with influence and power has the potential to cause damage. While some women have derailed great men, some men have derailed great women. It’s the same principle.
Be careful trading temporary comfort or companionship for calling. They aren’t worth your position. Fifteen minutes of mediocre pleasure isn’t worth your purpose. For you, it may not be women or men, but it may be friends or family who do not share the same values. What voices are in your ear? Who may be affirming negative habits while making fun of the positive ones in your life? What media, messages, and mindsets are you allowing into your intimate spaces? What type of content is on your algorithm? What messages does your music have you rehearsing? What mindsets do the people around you preach that could be chipping away at your armor?
We must be diligent in determining what influences are to be allowed in our space. In Deuteronomy chapter 17, God warns men of influence not to let anything influence them negatively. The reaction to this call to limit negative influences could lead many of us to isolate, but that isn't what God is calling us to do. Cutting negative influences without filling our time with anything else is just creating a vacuum that can be filled with anything. The Bible actually encourages us to not just get rid of negative influences but to replace them with positive ones.
Deuteronomy 17:18-20 says,
“Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear [and worship] the Lord his God [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect], by carefully obeying (keeping foremost in his thoughts and actively doing) all the words of this law and these statutes, so that his heart will not be lifted up above his countrymen [by a false sense of self-importance and self-reliance] and that he will not turn away (deviate) from the commandment, to the right or to the left, so that he and his sons may continue [to reign] for a long time in his kingdom in Israel.”
Deuteronomy 17:18-20 AMP
The text tells us that one way the king is expected to guard his heart is by filling it with the things of God. The king is to meditate on the law and character of God so that he will not deviate from it. David said that he would hide the word of God in his heart so that he might not sin against Him. The difference between the righteous and wicked often comes down to not just what they avoid but what they fill themselves with. Psalm 1 describes it like this,
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.”
Psalm 1:1-4 ESV
The difference between a blessed man and a wicked one is their influence. While a wicked man sits, walks, and stands under the influence of other wicked men. A righteous one delights in the law of God. A wicked man walks with wicked people in his ear. He allows the blind to lead him. He gets advice from those who are headed to destruction, but a righteous man does the opposite. He meditates on the law of God day and night. A righteous man surrounds themselves with Godly counsel and leans into their correction and discipline, while a wicked man surrounds themselves with yes men and runs from correction and critique. A righteous man centers themselves in God and surrounds themselves with people and content that affirm the positive direction they're headed for.
One last thing to point out about this passage is that it says “when Solomon was old, his heart was turned.” While you may be playing with fire now, and it may not seem like anything is being impacted, one day you will look up and you'll be further than you ever thought you'd go. Be careful of the compounding effect of influence.
If you were to be honest about the influences and voices you have allowed to get close, would you say you're guarding your heart? Are you filling your space with the best influences and limiting damaging voices? Let's learn from Solomon and be careful with who we invite into our spheres of intimate influence.
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