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The Danger of Drifting Let me ask you this; have you ever drifted from God? Have you ever lost interest in the things that you once held dear? Has there been times when you felt close to God, and now those are only memories? You see, the problem for all of us is that it really doesnt matter how on fire we are for God, how close we feel to God, how empowered we are by God, everyone of us has the potential to lose interest in God and to drift away. In fact, it happened to the wisest man in history. His name was Solomon. He was the most insightful, informed, intuned with God man who ever lived. People traveled hundreds of miles just to hear him speak the wisdom of God. People traveled hundreds of miles just to be in his presence. In fact, look how hes described in the Bible. (2) 1 Kings 10:23 says, King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart. If there was ever a man who know it all and had it all, Solomon was that man. And yet, at an early stage in his life, he made a decision that caused him to begin to drift. And over the course of his life, he drifted further and further and further from God. Until, by the end of his life, he was an embarrassment to his family, a disappointment to his nation, and a disgrace to his God.

And maybe youre thinking, How did that happen? Well, look what it says in (3) 1 Kings 11:1, King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaohs daugher-Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, You must not intermarry with them, because they (4) will surely turn your hearts after their gods. Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And then it says this in (5) verse 4, 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. Now let me ask you this; How did Solomon get from where he was to where he ended up? How do you start out building the temple of God, being overwhelmed by the glory of God, knowing the wisdom of God, and then end up worshipping other gods? How does that happen? How does a person drift that far from God? Let me suggest a few things. Heres the first and you can jot it down. (6) Drifting from God starts with improper thoughts. Drifting from God starts with improper thoughts. It starts with us thinking things like this, I know I shouldnt do this, but I dont see any harm in it. I know this isnt what Gods word says, but I cant see any danger. And before we know it, weve begun to drift.

Do you think Solomon knew that God didnt want him to marry foreign wives? Sure he did. But he began to think thoughts like this, Im not going to worship her gods. Im just going to marry her. Im not going to believe what she believes; Im just going to marry her. Im not going to sacrifice at her temple, Im just going to marry her. Now thats how it sounded to Solomon. For us it sounds like this. I know that Im supposed to be the spiritual leader in the home. But I dont have time for that, and my wife is much more capable. Ill let her do it. I know that I probably shouldnt be going out with this guy. I know he doesnt believe the way I do. But I can change his mind. I know that I shouldnt be watching this kind of stuff on television, but its just entertainment. And it really doesnt hurt anybody. And on and on and on we go. Making decisions based on the thought that we dont see any negative consequences for our decisions. Drifting starts with improper thoughts. After that it leads to inappropriate action. Point number two, (7) drifting involves inappropriate actions. Drifting involves inappropriate actions. And do you know whats interesting to note, we probably dont even see that at the start. Because the thing about drifting is that it happens so slowing that were not even aware of the harm its creating.

And so Solomon marries one foreign wife and thinks to himself, That didnt hurt anything. He marries another foreign wife and thinks, This is working out. And then he marries another, and then another, and another, and another, and another. Until hes married 700 foreign wives. And even though he didnt see that he was drifting, he now was faced with this huge problem. Where do these wives of mine worship? They cant worship with me in the temple, they dont believe in my God. So what does he do? He only has one option. To build them their own places of worship. And thats what he does. And so we read in (8) chapter 11:7, On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods. Notice that it says he did this for all his wives. 700 wives. And I read this and think, Solomon, get a clue. Its so obvious that youre doing wrong. And yet, the wisest, smartest, most insightful man who ever lived missed it, and if he can miss it in his life, so can I, and so can you. When our thoughts drift from Gods truth, our actions drift from Gods ways.

Its like a man who goes into the ice cream parlor and gets a huge ice cream Sundae, and gulps it down and runs home and looks in the mirror and says, That didnt make me fat. All these years Ive been told that eating ice cream will make me fat. I guess they were all wrong. Thats what its like to drift. At first it doesnt seem that there are any consequences to our inappropriate actions, but if the process continues unchecked, the end result is always disaster. And so we find this guy who was commissioned by God to build the very temple of God, now spending his time building temple after temple after temple to all of his foreign wives. But do you know what? His drifting from God doesnt end there. As a good husband, Solomon thinks to himself, I need to go to church with my wives. And all sudden we see this man who has seen God, who has experienced the glory of God, who knows it all, who has seen it all, who has done it all, accompanying his wives to pagan temples worshipping pagan gods, and when all is said and done, his heart is turned completely away from God, and we find him at the end of his life for all practical purposes a godless man, worshipping dead, meaningless, idols. And so thats how the wisest person in the world drifts from God. And just imagine this. How do you think Solomon would have responded if you would have gone to him as a young man and said, Solomon, when you grow old you are going to be worshipping

foreign gods? He would have looked at us like, What are you talking about? Foreign gods! Im building the temple to God. Yes but Solomon, when you get older your hearts going to be turned away from God, and youre going to worship foreign gods. He would have looked at us like we were crazy. You see, thats the significance of this story to me, as a young man, Solomon was 100% committed to God, but the Bible says that When he grew old, his wives caused his heart to turn away from God. Now could all of this have been prevented? Sure it could have. But only if he had keep his focus on God. Theres a great verse in Hebrews 2:1 that says, We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just judgment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation. In other word, the way to keep from drifting is to pay careful attention to what God has said. And so point number three. (9) The protection against drifting is paying attention. The prevention of drifting is paying attention to what God says. Because what God knows is this, that which is the focus of our attention, determines the direction of our lives. Its that simple. That which we focus our attention on, that which we pay closer attention to, becomes the determiner of our life.

Think about it. There are couples who have come to me and said, I dont love my wife anymore. I dont love my husband any more. I used to love him, I used to love her, but I dont any more. And what they want to know is this, what happened? What happened is that over time the attention they paid to one another shifted. It shifted to raising children. It shifted to building a business. It shifted to enjoying a hobby. But whatever it was, during the years following their wedding day, something else began to capture their attention. And without even making a conscious decision, as their focus shifted, the direction of their life shifted. And they spent more time with the kids. And they spent more time on the job. And they spent more time at the gym. Dont miss this, when it comes to drifting, we dont just drift away from something. We drift toward that something else. We drift toward that which has captured our attention. And the reason people drift from God, is because other pursuits besides God begins to capture their attention. And thats why the author of Hebrews says that when it comes to our relationship with God, when it comes to matters of the heart, when it comes to following after Christ, we need to keep our focus on what he says. All I know is this, Solomon didnt have to become an embarrassment to his family. He didnt have to become a disappointment to the nation. He didnt have to become a disgrace to God. He had every opportunity to change the direction of his life, by changing the focus of his thoughts, but he never did. And he ended

up losing the very thing that God wanted him to have, wisdom from on high. And so what about us? What about you? Which direction are you moving? And maybe more importantly, what would the people closest to you say about the direction that youre going?