February 10. The Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord.    Bruce continued with the story of King Solomon. “Having considered wealth and prosperity and God’s expectations what happens when things change?  In King Solomon’s case it was his wives who turned him away from his God, by having him build temples and make sacrifices for their foreign gods.  Does that kind of love give life?  How common is such a situation today where people begin to love and worship “idols,” or foreign gods in different forms, such as money and possession?  We have noted the evils outlined in the State Capture Report.  Other idols are habits that can become addictive, sex, even work or sport can become obsessions that turn us away from our God and lead to relationship breakdown.  Will God turn away and punish us as he did the Israelites of 700BC?  Becoming an eco-friendly family:  Discuss: can we see our misfortunes or the disasters of the coronavirus pandemic and events resulting from climate change as a punishment from God?

The Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord.  God said, “since this has been your mind and you have not kept my covenant I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.” 1 Kings 11:4-13.    Pope Francis:   Our Sister, Mother Earth who sustains and governs us now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. LS 1-2.   The Covid-19 pandemic unexpectedly erupted, exposing our false securities. Anyone who things that the only lesson to be learned was the need to improve what we were already doing, or to refine existing systems is denying reality. FT 7