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PEACE, PROSPERITY AND APATHY
David Donaldson, Richmond Christian Chapel
07-02-2010
In Solomon’s day, Israel dominated. David had built Israel into a powerful kingdom; Solomon reinforced it with fortified cities on the borders and full control of the world’s most important trade route.
Peace on all sides led to unprecedented prosperity. According to 1 Kings 10:21, silver was ho-hum. Every Israelite could rattle silver coins in his pocket. It had to be gold to be worth anything.
Kind of like America today. Cell phones, cable TV, multiple vehicles and even diamonds are owned by people who seek help from Salvation Army. Many Americans have many more luxuries and technologies than these. It has to be 4G to be worth anything. We enjoy an unprecedented level of peace and prosperity.
Is this a good thing? Yes and No. Yes, because God has blessed this nation – established on biblical principles. No, because as we and our culture get forgetful in our prosperity, we begin to move toward apathy.
When life is easy, we get lazy. When we’ve been given more and more, we care less and less. When we have everything we need or want, we forget who gave it to us. High prosperity tends to lull us into a dull expectation that we will always have these things and they should just be given to us. Who cares how they came to us, or who paid for them. We’re just entitled to them. Apathy. It’s an unending cycle of prosperity that makes us numb to God’s grace. We forget we need him.
And that’s when other gods start to settle in. Solomon shows us how apathy opens the door of the heart to let other gods in. Late in life, he embraced many wives and their foreign gods, and they led him away from the true God who had blessed him magnificently (1 Kings 11:1-9). How could Solomon do that? Solomon, the wisest man ever, knew God was real and Baal was fake. So why did he do such a foolish thing as worship Baal?
Because peace, prosperity and apathy opened his heart to let them in. When he got lazy about the true God, false gods worked into his heart. All Israel followed suit, and it divided the kingdom. Israel lost its peace and prosperity in a generation because the king’s heart grew apathetic toward the true God (1 Kings 14:25-26).
We are at a dangerous time in America, economically, internationally, but mostly, spiritually. Solomon and Israel are a warning to us as a nation. But they also warn us individually, at the level of our hearts. We need to ask, “Where is my heart? Is it devoted to the true God, or is it apathetic, open to other things? Does God hold all of my heart? Or have I forgotten that everything I have is God’s?”
We have peace and prosperity. We also have apathy. Will we remain in apathy? As we celebrate our freedom this weekend, let’s remember who gave it to us and give Him our whole hearts.
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