Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh's daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. The LORD had clearly instructed his people not to intermarry with those nations, because the women they married would lead them to worship their gods. Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. And sure enough, they led his heart away from the LORD. In Solomon's old age, they turned his heart to worship their gods instead of trusting only in the LORD his God, as his father, David, had done. 1 Kings 11:1-4
I always thought Solomon followed God wholeheartedly throughout his lifetime. But there was a fly in the soup. Solomon had unhealthy attachments to earthly objects (namely money and women), and he made it clear that the objects of his greatest affection came before his God.
I don't think it happened suddenly, this selling out of his heart. But over time, little by little, all of the parcels were sold off and operating under new management…until one day he was a different person with different ambitions and desires than before.
Here's the clincher. Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived. He had more understanding than anyone, yet he succumbed to an empty, meaningless life. I believe if he had obeyed God and kept on the right path wholeheartedly, God would have rewarded him with the satisfaction he so desperately sought, penned through his thoughts in Ecclesiastics. The scary part is that, if Solomon was given more wisdom, more riches, more understanding than anyone on earth and he still chose to turn his back on the God who had personally visited him and given him such a bountiful life, what chance do the rest of us have to stay faithful?
At some point in a sellout, a heart becomes so callous and so distant, that it really doesn't care anymore. This is a great reminder to obey in the little everyday things along the way, and to stay faithfully on the path at all times, lest I let my heart be sold off, little by little.
Are you listening to God when He shows you the areas of your heart where you are stealing your affections away from Him and wasting them on a false high? Don't ignore the warning signs. Do ignore your feelings because feelings will always fight you when it comes to putting to death sinful human desires. But eventually after you obey, your feelings will line up with your actions, and you will be ever so grateful you listened.