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Day 93, or April 3. What a waste!

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Our thoughts today are from 1 Kings chapter 11 verse 41. As for the other events of Solomon's

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reign, all he did, and the wisdom he displayed, are they not written in the book of the Annals

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of Solomon? And the big picture surrounding this verse.

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1 Kings reminds us that Solomon was visited by the Queen of Sheba, who witnessed just

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how many horsemen and chariots Solomon had accrued. In addition, he also collected 700

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wives and 300 concubines. Each of these extras was a tiny wedge in between Solomon and his

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God. Altogether, they created a vast gulf. By the time we get to the end of the chapter

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that tells us about his amazing number of chariots and his phenomenal number of wives,

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there is still 20 years of his reign to come. But they are skipped over quickly with no

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details. And then we are told that Solomon is dead.

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And now today's action step. It's significant that Solomon only gets half a book in the

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Bible to record his reign. Half of 1 Kings. It records details of the first half of his

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reign when he fulfilled projects which at least began with God at the centre of his

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life and reign. However, the second half of his reign seems to have been of little interest

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to the writer of the first book of Kings. Solomon gets the chilling word from God that

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because of his father David's faithfulness, the kingdom will remain in Solomon's hands

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until he dies. However, his son will then have it torn from his hands. All this is a

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sobering reminder that it's only what we do for God that counts in eternity. Check

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your diary today and underline what you're doing for God and see how much is left that

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you're doing for yourself. When God is at the centre of our lives, it seems everything

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is done with him in mind. When he slips from his central place, that's when we slide onto

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the throne and we don't notice until we check our diary. Dare you check your diary now?