Sometimes a person is asked for an explanation for their actions. Occasionally the explanation given is “because I can…” “Because I can” may be a flippant response. The words are said with a smirk. Recently I heard it from the lips of a celebrity. The answer spoke of personal power as a result of wealth and fame. The cultural positioning of the rich and famous allows them to do what they do, not out of necessity or need, but because it is what they want and because they can.
Many of us here have a similar freedom – though maybe not to the same degree. This freedom of choice takes us beyond needs to actions that aim at fulfilling our wants and desires. Our freedom comes from the abundance of the Canadian culture. A desire or want crosses our mind. We look at our situation and say to ourselves, “I can do that” or “I can purchase that” or “I can go there.” So… because we can, we will. There are many things we do simply because we can.
If Forbes magazine had been around in the time of King Solomon, he would have been first on the list of the ten wealthiest people in the world. Given the current price of gold and silver in today’s market, Solomon may have had enough gold to replace Bill Gates as the wealthiest person in 2006. Solomon was a wealthy celebrity in the ancient world.
Rumours of Solomon’s wealth spread through out the world of his day. The queen of Sheba, no slouch herself when it came to wisdom and wealth, didn’t believe all she heard about the King of Israel. She paid him a visit. The queen was wowed. At the end of her visit she said to Solomon, "The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard,” (1 Kings 10: 6 & 7).
Solomon’s wealth is described this way: “All King Solomon’s goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon’s days. King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth.”
Today the rich and famous, and not a few of us ordinary folk, like to invest in automobiles. It is not uncommon for the very rich to own a fleet of cars. Their value calculated in the millions of dollars. Why? Because they like cars and “because they can” own and maintain them. Solomon predated cars. He collected horses and chariots instead. We read in verse 26: “Solomon accumulated chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he kept in the chariot cities and also with him in Jerusalem.”
Solomon didn’t confine his devotion to horses. He also loved women. The philosophy of “because I can” had few limitations in this area. We read in Chapter 11: 1 and 3 these words: “1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. . . . He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines…”
I am not sure how People Magazine would write up the story of Solomon. I am sure the story would include lots of superlatives and spicy details as they explored the inner workings of a household involving 1000 women.
As you read chapter 10 in particular, you see a picture of a King who is on top of the world. He is standing on top of societal Mount Everest. He represents the pinnacle of success not only in his world but ours as well.
Chapter 11 lets us know that in spite of Solomon’s riches, wisdom, and worldwide acclaim, there are problems with his lifestyle. A clue is seen in verse 2. His 700 wives 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.
The consequences of Solomon’s “because I can” philosophy unfold in 4-6: “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 Molech, 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.”
The conclusion? Read verses 9-11. God’s blessing on Solomon is removed. The king with the golden touch, the king who was credited with incredible wisdom, the king admired and envied by many and, maybe most tragic of all, the king to whom God appeared to twice, fails. In failing, he leaves Israel in decline. We read: “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. So the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates.”
It is interesting to note that long before Israel had kings, while the nation was wandering in the wilderness under the leadership of Moses, God gave instructions for the kings he knew would some day rule over Israel. These are detailed in Deuteronomy 17: 16-17: “The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself …. He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.”
The power, wealth and influence that come with leadership bring risks. The antidote to those risks was found in 1 Kings 10:18 – 20. It was to the revere the Lord God. ‘When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. 19 It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees 20 and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.”
Reading the law, obedience to the law and humility nurtured reverence for God. Emersion in the law and obedience helped keep the King on track when wealth and power could lead him away from what is right and good. Humility meant the King refused to allow his position go to his head. He would not think of himself better than the people God had called the King to lead. A humble king will not excuse his behaviour saying he is above the requirements of the law.
Solomon’s early love for God was eroded by wealth, power, success and his love for many women. The blessings God sent his way he abused. His knowledge and great wisdom did not translate into right action. What Solomon knew and with dazzling wisdom could communicate to others, He did not live. The “because I can” approach to life controlled his decisions. His disobedient lifestyle caused Solomon to ignore the God who had poured good things into his life. His many loves caused him to neglect the most important love in his life – God. Solomon’s lifestyle led to ruin.
The “because I can” approach to life frequently messes people up because there is no central loyalty beyond the self. When a person decides that life is about doing what I want to do and what I can do, the demands of the “I” never end. The self becomes a tyrant allowing no peace, no rest, no satisfaction. As soon as the self gets what it wants, it starts to look for more. On and on the demands continue. Even the person who has a seemingly endless reserve of wealth does not finds satisfaction when he or she adopts a “because I can” approach to life.
Let me ask you: What would life look like if you were able to do whatever you wanted, when you wanted, how you wanted with no limits? What changes would you make in your life if you had unlimited resources? If you could do whatever you wanted to do? Do you think that having the power to do as you please would dramatically improve the quality of your life?
I was reminded this week by a friend that there was a person who more than Solomon, more than Bill Gates, more than anyone who ever existed had within his power to do what ever he pleased. His name was Jesus.
The Apostle Paul describes him his way in Philippians 2: 6: [Jesus] “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!”
Jesus decisions were not based on his power and ability to do as he pleased. It was a life of obedience focused on doing the will of his Father.
Solomon used his wisdom, his wealth, his knowledge, all a result of God’s blessing, to pursue his own goals some of which went contrary to what he knew was right.
In contrast, Jesus lived to please his father instead of living for self. He was not driven by the insatiable self but lived in submission to his Father. Jesus calls us to follow him. We are not to do what we do because we can. We are do what we do out of love for our Father in heaven.
The story of Solomon also tells us is that we are people of influence. Our lifestyle, the decisions we make, are made within a network of relationships. The decisions of fathers and mothers impact children. The decisions of bosses affect workers. We do not live in isolation.
Our challenge is not to envy the luxurious lifestyles of the rich and famous or aim at accumulating wealth so we can live a lifestyle of doing what we do “because we can.” Our challenge is to emulate Jesus who asks us to follow him and experience his life within us through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The life he wants to give us is not a life that crashes and burns. His life is a life that lasts forever in the presence of our heavenly Father.
The next time you decide to do something “because you can,” stop and ask yourself, “Yes I can, but is it best? Is it right? Is what I want to do in alignment with what God desires for me? What are the long-term implications for the network of people who are part of my life?”
The quote on our sign reminds us that “Wisdom begins with the sacrifice of immediate pleasures for long-range purposes.” Let Christ be our example!