Putting Faith in People Over God

Scriptures: Proverbs 3:5-6, John 14:15, Luke 6:46

Step #1: Deception

King Solomon’s wisdom couldn’t save him from the destruction caused by his disobedience to God.

King Solomon’s fall didn’t happen overnight. In the beginning of his reign, Solomon was fully surrendered to God. In fact, during his first year as king, Solomon had a dream in which God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you” (1 Kings 3:5). Solomon replied, “So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong” (1 Kings 3:9). In other words, Solomon asked God for wisdom so he could lead the people well. Throughout the next few days, we’re going to dive into the subtle cycle and three steps that changed Solomon from a wise and God-fearing king into a cynical, miserable, and idolatrous monarch who is unrecognizable from his former self. 

“But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” – James 1:14-15

Throughout the years of his reign, Solomon turned away from his full commitment to God and compromised his values to please others. We often fall into deception when we believe we can please God and man at the same time, or when we try to keep one foot in the world and one foot with God, while walking the straight and narrow path. That’s impossible. The world sways you one way while God says, “Follow Me,” in another direction. That’s why a decision must be made in your life: to follow man’s way or Jesus’ Way. 

Long before Solomon, God set the standard by saying, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exod. 20:3). This is because you and I were created to worship God. When we choose not to be fully devoted to God, our interests become divided. Soon after that, instead of looking up to the One who made us, we start looking around for answers. 

Solomon fell into the deception that he could secure life’s satisfaction from what was directly in front of him. First Kings 11:1–10 says:

“King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, ‘You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.’ Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done. On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods. The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord’s command.” 

The previous passage marks Solomon’s entrance into Step 1—the deceptive cycle of the world. From what we see in this passage, Solomon’s desire to please his wives outgrew his desire to please God. The Bible never says that Solomon was not devoted to God. It says that he was not devoted to God fully. So, you see where the deception is. The world wants to deceive us into believing we can have one foot in God’s Kingdom and one foot in the world. But before we know it our interests are divided. Our values are compromised. And we begin to serve Creation rather than the Creator.

Scriptures: Acts 5:29, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Joshua 5:6

Step #2: Disappointments

“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” – Matthew 16:26, MEV

Solomon had everything from a worldly standpoint, only to reach the latter years of his life and say, “I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind” (Eccles. 1:14). 

Solomon’s disappointments are clearly laid out in Ecclesiastes 2:3–11: 

“I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under heaven during the few days of their lives. I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem as well—the delights of a man’s heart. I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me. I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.” 

Here Solomon is presenting to us the rulebook of what not to do. He is saying, “Look, I have done everything I thought would bring me happiness. I ventured off and tried everything the world has to offer, just to find it meaningless.”

Scriptures: Matthew 11:28, 1 Peter 5:7, Jeremiah 29:11

Step #3: Depression

Wandering away from God’s purpose for your life can lead you straight into despair.

Had Solomon walked into a therapist’s office today and verbalized the despair he expresses throughout Ecclesiastes, I can assure you he would have been diagnosed with clinical depression. 

Let’s take a closer look at the diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder and examine how King Solomon would have fit the profile for it today. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, Major Depressive Disorder, also known as MDD, is one of the most common clinical diagnoses in the field of mental health, affecting an estimated 21 million adults in the United States each year. Per the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5), this type of clinical depression is indicated when someone has experienced five or more symptoms during the same two-week period. Let’s go over each symptom and compare it to the biblical accounts of Solomon’s statements in Ecclesiastes. 

The first symptom of clinical depression is showing a depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day.

Ecclesiastes 2:17–18 records Solomon expressing grief and disappointment with life. He said, “So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.” 

The second symptom is a markedly diminished interest or pleasure in activities.

In his later years, Solomon referred to his life as meaningless and the achievements he normally would have taken pleasure in as meaningless. Ecclesiastes 2:11 says, “Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.” A few verses later, he said, “So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind” (v. 17). 

Another well-known symptom of clinical depression is fatigue or loss of energy over a period of weeks.

Solomon said, “…I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun” (Eccles. 2:19–20). 

You don’t have to look far into Ecclesiastes to spot Solomon’s feelings of worthlessness, marking another symptom of clinical depression.

In Ecclesiastes 1:2 he said, “‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the Teacher. ‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.’” A few verses later he said, “No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them” (v. 11). Then, in Ecclesiastes 7:15, he continued, “In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: the righteous perishing in their righteousness, and the wicked living long in their wickedness.” 

Last, it’s clear from Solomon’s thought process that he had been having recurrent thoughts of death as he surveyed his life and works.

In Ecclesiastes 2:18 he said, “I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me.” In Ecclesiastes 3:19–20 he continued, “Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.” Toward the end of Ecclesiastes, he said, “For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten” (Eccles. 9:5). 

What does this mean for you?

You may read this and be tempted to think, “Well, I’m nothing like Solomon. It’s not like I’m building statues anywhere or worshipping other gods.” In reality, it doesn’t take building a statue to not be fully committed to God. What usually sways us from being fully devoted to God are small missteps here and there. 

Solomon’s life is a fitting example of how one decision after another outside of God’s Will can lead us to a state of despair—the state where we feel as if nothing and no one can console us. The state where we’ve looked everywhere for a solution, and all our efforts are futile: “chasing after the wind,” as Solomon put it. The world is full of false promises that aim to get us to fall into its destructive cycle.