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Thirteen months ago John and I were in the emergency room of our local hospital. After several days in extreme pain, he agreed to seek help.

Despite heavy medication, my strong, hard-working husband found little relief. I sat in the room with him, quietly praying until I remembered a collection of favorite scriptures I kept in my phone, organized by book. I began reading Solomon’s Proverbs to John, hoping they might provide a diversion for him. Toward the end of the document, I had added some Psalms to the note, so I just kept reading aloud. David’s journey through his own emergency felt appropriate. At the same time, something seemed like it didn’t fit. Something seemed disjointed. Suddenly, I realized what bothered me. It hit me. It stopped me. I realized that the VOICES of Solomon and David were completely different.

Solomon felt insufficient to rule, and famously asked God for an “understanding heart to judge Your people.” This so pleased the Lord that He granted that request along with other things which he did not seek. God poured blessings into every facet of his life. He was the epitome of the man who ‘had it all.’

David, on the other hand, grew up tending his father’s sheep. He spent his youth in the fields learning their characteristics. He came to understand them, to defend them, to nurture them. We do not read that he ever sought a higher profile position; he simply worked with the single goal of providing everything the sheep needed. He did not know while among them that, even then, God was preparing him to lead a nation.

Solomon’s reign lasted forty years. Four years in, he began construction on the Temple in Jerusalem. When completed seven years later, the priests placed the Ark of the Covenant inside the Holy of Holies within the Temple. When they emerged from there, the glory of God had so filled the place that the priests were unable to physically stand.

David, fresh from the pasture, was anointed by Samuel in the presence of his father and the brothers God had rejected. The Bible says that the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him, and afterward he returned to the sheep and to the pasture.

Solomon loved many foreign women in his old age, according to Scripture. He was obsessed with them. He built idols, shrines, and high places to their gods. He himself worshiped the worst of them. God had warned him this would happen.

One spring, David sent his men into battle with the Ammonites while he climbed to his rooftop. There he made the decision to watch beautiful Bathsheba and the rest, as they say, is history – very bad history. The man after God’s own heart became an adulterer, a liar, and a murderer.

Solomon displayed keen insight throughout Proverbs. He championed wisdom, patience, counsel; he warned of pride, greed, anger, and vengeance. Perhaps constructing the Temple inspired him to write, “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain.” How sad that his heart abandoned the infinite wisdom of his youth.

His father, David, hungered to be in God’s presence. He continually built altars, organized worship services, fell before Him in adoration. His heart was totally captive to the things of the Lord. He bowed, he sang, he played, he danced, he sought, he called, he cried, he wept, he laughed, all in the process of exalting the Lord. David wrote, ‘Who is like You, Lord?’ ‘Those who look to Him are radiant.’ ‘The Lord’s unfailing love surrounds those who trust in Him.’ ‘I acknowledged my sin to You and You forgave the guilt of my sin.’ ‘You are my hiding place.’ ‘Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.’ ‘Examine my mind.’ ‘Show me Your ways, teach me Your paths.’

Can you hear his heart? Do you hear the longing to be with Him, to please Him? Can you sense his urgency to become like Him, and his absolute trust in Him?

John survived emergency surgery that weekend, and all was well except that I left haunted by the wide deviation of a man and his son. And I found a new commitment to worship the Lord my God. My heart determined to seek His face. My eyes lifted to the hills from whence came my help, my source, my redemption, my strength, my hope, and everything that is good.