THE WRECK

There is a lot of talk these days about distracted driving.  And there is a lot of reason to be concerned about it:  Texting is only one of many ways to be distracted, but probably the most necessary clamp down because of the “eyes off the road” time it takes.  I rode about 1000 miles once with a texting driver and it was seriously frightening.  But the car’s owner and the teen driver were perfectly content with the situation and I am sure the driver is still texting unless the worst has already happened.

As for me, I can be distracted enough by my rear view mirror, my heat console (with all those stupid circular switches) or my radio with all its buttons.  I don’t need cell phone action on top of that.  Oh, yes, if I am taking you home from somewhere keep your eye on me or I will take you home to my house because I will be distracted by our conversation and will take the “auto” root straight home.

In the study book I am reading about Solomon, which is based on the sermons of Charles R. Swindoll, Swindoll says this: 

Solomon had a heavy foot on the accelerator.  Intoxicated with fame, fortune, and females, his spiritual eyelids were heavy with lethargy.  It would take more than black coffee to sober him up to his responsibilities as ruler of God’s people.  With only one arm propped on the steering wheel of the kingdom, Solomon was fast on his way to becoming a spiritual fatality.

Solomon appeared to have it all.  In today’s terms, that might be described as several palatial homes complete with swimming pools, tennis courts, movie theaters and any other home amenity that strikes interest; a fleet of fancy cars, yachts, jets, and maybe even space ships these days.  And let’s not forget all the latest electronic equipment available today, and all the hot babes that these things attract. He truly appeared to have it all and wisdom too.

But the derailing of the train was already in motion as it sped down the track.  Solomon was bored and disillusioned.  Swindoll says, “Fortune, fame, friends, and fulfilled fantasies became his daily delights. But like a steady diet of luscious desserts, these pleasures soon sated his appetite and made him nauseous.”

Solomon put it this way in his “diary,” the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 2:

I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure.  So enjoy yourself.” And behold, it too was futility (vanity, meaningless.)  …I explored (pleasure)… (for myself);  I enlarged my works, I built houses for myself, I planted vineyards - gardens - parks  and all kinds of fruit trees for myself.  I made ponds of water for myself... to irrigate a forest of growing trees.  I bought slaves, male and female and had home born slaves. I collected for myself silver and gold.  Also I possessed flocks and herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem….  (and on and on.)  And behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was not profit under the sun.

It was a “subtle trap.”  There were signs of erosion, an opening which had allowed the winds and water to enter and erode the very basis of his commitment to God and the ways of his father.  The first was the all too quick decision to marry and become unequally yoked together with the Pharaoh’s daughter and thereby the Pharaoh of Egypt.  The last straw seemed to be the turning of his heart from God to seek pleasure in worshiping the idols of his 700 wives and 300 concubines.  The train wrecked, the car crashed and the people of Israel were never the same again.  The kingdom was divided and conquered.  It’s a tragic story.  And one we should never forget.

We cannot divide our allegiance with God for any reason. “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” Matthew 16:26 (KJV)  With our hope and our lives depending entirely on our salvation through Jesus Christ we know that we cannot be permanently divided from Him, but we certainly can be turned away from His daily blessings by seeking the thrill of this world over the thrills of our Lord.

May we decide today to keep that from happening by listening, learning and living in the Word which is Him.  May we seek our happiness and pleasure in Him knowing that He has the greatest hope and plan for us and will see that it is done.  May we rejoice right now that He is ours and we are His.

And while I am thinking about it, perhaps I might suggest that we need to run our driving tests a little differently and subject the drivers to “distracted” driving in a controlled environment so that we can become more aware of how dangerous we really are behind the wheel of a car or the controls of an airplane or train… or at the controls of our own lives.  Just sayin’. :)