Our Pilgrim life is a remarkable combination of palms growing in the sun and willows drooping alongside the brook. In the providence of God our smiles and sighs, our pleasures and pains, our triumphs and tears are intermingled. All our joy is touched with pain.

-Dr. Herbert Lockyer, pg.60, All The Holy Days and Holidays, Meditation for Palm Sunday

Where you will find one Abraham, one Daniel, or one Joshua, you will find a thousand Lots.

Lot had much wealth, but he did not have the abundant life of God because of his choice to coexist with the world, whose constant degenerate pressure virtually destroyed his true spirituality.

Lot was not a sinner in the normal sense, but spiritually malnourished and undeveloped.

There is an interesting contrast between Abraham and Lot. Abraham was probably exceedingly wealthier than Lot. But Abraham lived in a tent, while Lot lived in a house.

This clearly shows that Abraham lived his life in such a way that everybody understood that Abraham was just a pilgrim.

He did not put roots down in this world, while Lot, his nephew, did.

Lot was converted, but carnal. His hopes and dreams were in the world, and his interest was in the things of this world.

Lot may have had the same vision as Abraham, but by choice, he was firmly anchored in the world.

Lot, whose faith was weak at best, was not committed like Abraham was. The whole aim of Abraham’s life was to give glory to God, while Lot, though righteous, lived by sight.

Lot’s aim was essentially to grasp at life, to do it now and enjoy it, rather than work to develop his relationship with God.

Will you like Abraham walk by faith or like Lot live by sight?

Herbert Lockyer
Author/Bible Teacher

Adapted from Herbert Lockyer’s "All the men of the Bible"

Your comments, thoughts or suggestions are welcome. The body text is by the author, the header and the words in italics are mine – John B. Samuel

PROVERBS 1:1                                                               “He spoke three

1 Kings 11:1-13                                                        thousand proverbs.”

 The king of Jerusalem, we might think from what follows, was poorly qualified to be the teacher of morality to mankind. Yet, in the Providence of God, does it not make what he taught all the more remarkable, and at the same time providing a warning to us all? A greater than Solomon, remember, is here. Christ Himself speaks to us.

 1. His Claim! Arnot put it biblically when he said: “Every writer was chosen of God as well as every word.” Of this, we may be sure. Solomon could not have written the Twenty Third Psalm, but neither could David or any of the prophets have written Proverbs or Ecclesiastes.

To quote Arnot again: “The heights of human prosperity he had reached; the paths of human learning he had trodden further than any of his day; the pleasures of wealth, and power, and pomp he had tasted in all their variety. No spring of earthly delight could be named, of whose water he had not drunk deeply. This is the man whom God has chosen as the schoolmaster to teach us the vanity of the world when it is made the portion of a soul, and He hath done all things well. The man who has drained the cup of pleasure can best tell the taste of its dregs.”

 2. His Shame! Herbert Lockyer referred to Solomon as “the Man Who Was Full Yet Failed.” Campbell-Morgan said: “I do not know of a more disastrous failure in all the pages of the Old Testament than that of Solomon.” How magnificent his beginning! How miserable his end! Alexander Whyte summed up Solomon’s shame: “The shipwreck of Solomon is surely the most terrible tragedy in all the world. If ever there was a shining type of Christ in the OT it was Solomon, but everyday sensuality made him, in the end, a castaway. His early life gave every indication of great promise. The bulk of his proverbs likely come from this period. His despair of life without God in Ecclesiastes may be from his later years, proving the truth of his own proverb in 4:23.”

 3. His Blame! His start was brilliant; his end was blighted.  He wandered into forbidden-paths; failed to practice what he preached. Profoundly Wise (1 Kg. 4:10), yet he heeded neither the warnings of God (1 Kg.9:7, 11:11), nor the voice of conscience. He now had more concern for his own glory than for God’s or the welfare his people. He thus became a victim of the folly he warned others about (1 Kg. 11:1, 6, 9)! Passion, pride and power brought about Solomon’s own tragic downfall.

THOUGHT: “Not one of Solomon’s writings excuses his sins.” (Arnot)

PRAYER:       Keep my walk right with Thee in all things.