Under the light of the spiritual life, we can see that Solomon was a wise man but not a spiritual one; a man of capability, not one of life; a man whose wisdom was a gift, not a measure of life. The careers he accomplished were evidences of his capacity from the God-given gift of wisdom, not manifestations of the ability of the maturity of life.
In the Lord's recovery we should first take care of life. Then to some extent and in a certain sense we need capability. In the church our capability should be the manifestation of the maturity of life. Capability apart from life is like a snake, poisoning the church; life is like a dove, supplying the church with life. Instead of being today's Solomon, we should be "doves" with the proper measure of life.
Solomon's enjoyment of the God-given good land reached the highest level through his God-given gift. However, due to his dwarf measurement in the maturity of the spiritual life, he was cut off from the enjoyment of the good land in God's economy, in his unbridled indulgence of his lust in sex. His father David, a man according to God's heart, failed in this gross and ugly sin—the indulgence of sexual lust. Solomon's failure in this satanic temptation was much greater than his father's, beyond people's imagination. This caused him and his descendants to lose more than ninety percent of their kingdom and caused the people of God's elect to suffer division and confusions among themselves throughout quite a number of generations. They lost the God-given land and became captives in the foreign lands of idol worship. The nation of Israel is still suffering due to Solomon's failure. What a warning and an alarm this should be to us! We must be careful. Even a little failure in the indulgence of lust can damage the church and kill the splendid aspects of the church life.