Devotion 5 - Destroy our Faith in Christ
An ungodly union will draw us away from God! This was the main point of the Old Testament warnings about marrying those among the pagan nations, as they will turn our hearts from the truth of God.
Deut.7:3-4 – “Nor shall you make marriage with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly.
God was telling the Israelites and their children not to marry people who worshipped other gods because it would draw them into idolatry. The prohibition is not against interracial marriage, but rather against marriage between Israel and those from other people groups, tribes, and nations. That is, the Bible prohibits marriage between those who believe in Christ, the Messiah, and those who don’t. In the New Testament, Paul directed believers to marry “only in the Lord” (1Cor.7:39).
Therefore, there should be no such thing as “Missionary Dating”. Dating should never be a platform for evangelism. Many believers rationalize that they will lead the unbelievers mate to the Lord, but it rarely works that way. When we compromise God’s principal thinking to win the world, the world could instead win us.
Let’s learn this important lesson from Solomon:
1Kgs.3:3-5 – “And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David…Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar…At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night…”
Here, it tells us clearly that Solomon loved the Lord and his thousand offerings demonstrated and showcased his magnitude of love for the Lord. He encountered God in a very real and intimate way and received God’s endowment to be the wisest man who ever walked on this earth apart from our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Kgs.9:1-2 – “And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he wanted to do, that the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon” - after the completion of the temple.
Wow, God did not appear to Solomon only once, but twice. How many of us are privileged to have such a deep and intimate relationship with God?
1Kgs.11:1-4 – “But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites – from the nations of whom the Lord has said to the children of Israel, “You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. And he had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines; and his wives turned way his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turn his heart away after other gods…”
Solomon wanted romance and sensual fulfillment more than he wanted the Lord. For all his wisdom, he was snared by the power of romantic and sensual love. Sadly, he ultimately turned away from the God who gave him the unprecedented wisdom because he did not take heed of the principles God gave to governing Kings in Israel.
Deut.17:15,17 – “You shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses… he shall not multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away…”
He probably thought that he would be the exception, that in his wisdom, he would be able to win his pagan wives over to worship the true God. Nehemiah, when rebuking the Israelites of interracial marriages, reminded them of Solomon’s weakness that caused him to sin.
Neh.13:25-26 – “So I contended with them and cursed them, struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters as wives to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons or yourselves. 26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him, who was beloved of his God; and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless pagan women caused even him to sin.”
If one of the greatest kings of Israel fell because of the influences of unbelievers, others could too. A tendency to sin must be recognised and dealt with swiftly; otherwise, it may overpower us and bring us to destruction!