How can we guard our hearts?

The Bible, at times, makes for very uncomfortable reading.

Consider these opening verses of 1 Kings 11: “Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, ‘You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.’ Solomon clung to these in love … So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David His father had done.”

What have you thought as you read those words? – How could he? This is Solomon, whose reign began with such glowing promise. Whom God so greatly commended because he did not ask Him for wealth or power or fame, but rather for wisdom in order to rule God’s covenant people justly and well. How could he? – There are two answers, the obvious and the not so obvious.