Text: 1 King 11:4-8
INTRODUCTION: Jesus summarized for us the way we are supposed to love God. “You shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your heart” God does not expect anything less than this from any of His children. When the chosen people of God performed below this expectation, God told them through Isaiah and same echoed by Jesus echoed Is. 29:13 in Matt. 15: 8 “You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you: These people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men” If we expect God’s promises to be fulfilled in our lives this year, our hearts must be single with Him.
A heart that is not single: It is a divided heart. David in Psalm 86 prayed for a heart that is not divided to be in his life. A divided heart is torn and scattered. It is a heart that is not sincere, uncertain and always in a state of indecision, a heart that wrestle with what to do, a hesitant heart. It develops over time just like that of Solomon during his reign in Israel and when he was old, it already became a habit. He conformed to the ways of the world over time and settled into the practice of the worldly kings, trying to be the greatest- in wealth, horses wives both of which God forbade. In order not to fall into the habit, David prayed for God to unite his heart with that of God. He did this by allowing praise of God to be in his heart. The following are signs of a divided heart:
1. It is emotionally unstable: An emotionally stable person is characterized by unhappiness. Ps. 119:2 says Happy are those who keep Go’s testimonies and that seek Him with the whole heart. The implication is that those that do ot seek God are not happy. We see I the life of Solomon that as he grew older he became unstable by moving his heart away from God. Is our lives characterized by unhappiness, lack of peace, worry and confusion? Let us learn to make God our source of happiness through His word. Solomon embrace d more of the world’s word doing as he pleased because of his wealth. He became emotionally unhappy as nothing could satisfy him.
2. It is prone to wandering: A wandering heart is aimless and unsure of the way to go. It free-wheels with life. However God’s ways are inspired and written for us to follow for our good and it does not box us in. A person fighting against the truth of God’s word and wilfully or ignorantly choose a path contrary, will definitely wander to dangerous paths. Solomon experimented and his heart wandered into all kinds of paths Does God’s not know everything before defining and outlining for us what paths to follow? David who wrote Ps 23 and Ps. 119:10 was aware of this fact. Does your heart wander to strange paths? Divert it back to the paths of the Lord through prayer
3. It is selfish: Selfishness is defined as lacking consideration for others. It may be that we are offended by the opinion of others- only our opinion must count, threatened by the status of a peer- maybe promoted and we think why not me? Not willing in our abundance to give to the less privileged or those in need. When we unlike Jesus say not God’s will but my will contrary to Phil. 2:3, it is selfishness. This was the case with Solomon who had his heart turned to himself and not after God. It is nothing less than idolatry. David gave us a solution in Ps, 119:36 “incline my heart towards your testimonies and not to covetousness” This was contrary to what Solomon did for, he coveted all things for himself not God’s word.
4. It is inconsistent: Inconsistency is a problem with virtually all of us. Sometimes we obey God and sometimes we do not, Can we truthfully say that we obey God all of the time? The divided heart is one of consistent willful rebellion or disobedience. It is not swayed or inclined towards obedience to God’s word like Solomon. It is the rule not the exception. However we can overcome as David proffer to us in Ps. 119:55-56 “I obey your precepts. When our daily practice is committed to knowing and following God”s word, we will be consistent in keeping God’s law.
5. It is bitter and sour: A person that is bitter can be described as one who is hurt or has angry feelings as a result of bad experiences. It can be that we have listened to bad advice and end up not feeling satisfied with the results. Solomon listened to many people including his wives who drew his heart away from God and at the end of his experiments came to the conclusion that all life is vanity. What a profound and faithless statement. This is what happens when we neglect God’s guidance and seek help from human sources. If we do not know God’s word, how will we know the advice we are given is right and biblical. The advice from Is. 55: 2 and from Ps. 119: 103 suggest to us that it is only God’s word that put a sweet taste in our mouth and life.
6.It is fearful: God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power , of love and of a sound mind. A divided heart is one where the Sunday life does not match Monday to Saturday life. It cannot preach to people because the life is opposite of message. Solomon could not convince his wives to turn to God but they turned him away from God. Familiar? Today’s believer and church follow people to worldly events but can’t convince them to come to church. David said in Ps. 119:46-47 “I will speak” In other words he was not afraid or ashamed of speaking about God’s testimonies to people. Are you afraid and ashamed of God’s word, Paul said “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of god unto salvation to them that believe.
In summary, check your hearts condition this year to see if you are wholly seeking God or just giving only pieces that you prefer to Him. I challenge you to make it your desire to seek Him and ask Him to incline your heart to Him and getting united with Him in His word. Grab it with your hands with tenacity so as to experience His presence and blessing this year.