Heart Disease

Heart attack has become one of the common problems among many people today despite their intelligence and wealth. In fact, a heart attack seems to be common among the higher echelon of society among the educated elite, the rich, and the intelligent. This seems to have become a rich's man disease. This reminds me of my neighbor who had been doing so well in life, even in physical health, who used to take regular exercises and maintain a strict diet, still, one day, got a heart attack and died. Heart disease is a serious problem. So is the psychological heart, the heart mentioned in the Bible.

In the recent training I attended, I was so enlightened to see the seriousness of my heart condition. Solomon had a serious heart problem and so are many children of God today. Delving deep into the life of Solomon and analyzing his case in depth, he had a very good beginning. God appeared to him twice, a very rare condition among the people of God in the Old Testament. What a good beginning!

1K 3:5 In Gibeon Jehovah appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, Ask what I should give you.

1K 3:6 And Solomon said, You have shown great lovingkindness to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth and righteousness and in uprightness of heart with You; and You have kept for him this great lovingkindness and have given him a son to sit upon his throne, as it is this day.

1K 3:7 And now, O Jehovah my God, You have made Your servant king in the place of David my father, though I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in.

1K 3:8 And Your servant is in the midst of Your people, whom You have chosen, a vast people that cannot be numbered or counted for multitude.

1K 3:9 Give therefore to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?

1K 3:10 And this word seemed good in the sight of the Lord, that Solomon had asked for this matter.

1K 9:2 Jehovah appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.

In His first appearing to him, he had asked for wisdom and God indeed gave him wisdom and understanding that no man ever had. With this wisdom from God, he built the temple in Jerusalem that was pleasing to God and the glory of God filled the temple.

1K 8:10 And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the house of Jehovah;

1K 8:11 And the priests were not able to stand and minister because of the cloud, for the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah.

Afterwhich he dedicated the temple and prayed a long prayer which truly is a model of perfect prayer in which prayer was directed towards the holy land, the holy temple, and the holy city. But the shocking indents that followed after his glorious kingship is a warning to all the children of God today. This is what can be termed spiritual heart disease.

Solomon loved God in his young age but his genuine love for God is no guarantee that he would love God the same unto the end.

1K 3:3 And Solomon loved Jehovah, walking in the statutes of David his father; however, he sacrificed and burned incense in the high places.

After all the glory and splendor of his kingdom and his kingship, his God-loving heart was diseased with the love for many foreign women due to the indulgence of his lust. A very practical condition among many children of God today. As recorded in the Bible, his heart was diseased with the love for many persons other than God and he ended up marrying seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. 

1K 11:1 But King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharaoh’s daughter — Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,

1K 11:2 From among the nations concerning which Jehovah had said to the children of Israel, You shall not go among them, nor shall they come among you, for they will surely turn your heart after their gods. Solomon clung to these in love.

1K 11:3 And he had seven hundred princess wives and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.

1K 11:4 And when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect toward Jehovah his God like the heart of David his father.

1K 11:5 And Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom the detestable thing of the Ammonites.

1K 11:6 And Solomon did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah and did not fully follow Jehovah as David his father had done.

1K 11:7 Then Solomon built a high place to Chemosh the detestable thing of Moab in the mountain that is before Jerusalem and to Molech the detestable thing of the children of Ammon.

1K 11:8 And so he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.

The tragic end of his reign was that he lost his own kingdom, God's kingdom, and the nation of Israel. The source of his problem was again a heart problem triggered by the lust of the flesh. Now, these have been written as an example for us to learn from. Therefore, we must be absolute and desperate in dealing with our hearts and dealing with the lust of the flesh, rejecting the flesh, and living by the resurrected life of Christ.

The hands that once built the temple of God could also build the high places; the heart that once loved God also loved idolatrous women, and the heart that once worshipped God could also worship idols. This is a heart problem. 

Loving the Lord today and serving Him today is no guarantee that one will love and serve God to the end. We need the Lord's covering grace and His mercy, to be preserved to love the Lord singly and purely above all and serve Him only unto the end.

What a warning to heed! What a lesson to learn from! Salvation from spiritual heart disease is the need of the age.

Lord, save me from my natural man, my flesh, and its lust. Lord, make me absolute and desperate in loving You and pursuing you all the days of my life.