It's good to learn about God's way of doing things. We're from a generation that wants instant gratification. People want everything they can get - and they want it now. But the way God wants us to do things is not always like that.

The Bible teaches us about delayed gratification: doing the right thing now so that the blessing will be so much greater later; saving up now so you can have plenty later; keeping ourselves sexually pure now for the reward of the marriage relationship later.

Doing things God's way is not always fun right at the present, because it's not always what we want to do right now. But when others who have lived for pleasure are falling, those of us who have kept our desires in line with the Word of God are going to be enjoying the reward. It's going to pay off in the end.

There are benefits in doing things God's way. King Solomon was so rich that almost everything he had was pure gold. Solomon was the wisest man on the earth at that time and he was also the richest man.

So my question is, how did he ever get to that point where he was blessed like he was? In 1 Kings 3:7-10, Solomon is talking to God:

And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.

Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.
(1 Kings 3:7-10)

Solomon could have asked to be super rich. He could have asked that all his enemies die. But Solomon asked for an understanding heart so he could help the people. He wasn't selfish. His goal, his purpose, his heart was set to be a servant and to please God.

So God basically said, "Because your heart is to bless My people, and because you've pleased Me, I'm going to give you what you asked for and everything you didn't ask for as well."

Then God gave Solomon an understanding heart and made him wise. But besides that, He gave him riches and made him the greatest king on earth.

What Did He Do Wrong?
Solomon had God's plan. He had what God had told him to do with the country. God made him the richest man in the world and blessed him until he was the wisest man in the world. But somehow Solomon ended up doing evil in God's sight. Well, where did he mess up? What was his mistake?

But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabite, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; Of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.
(1 Kings 11:1-2)

Now Solomon had specific instructions from God that he should not have those women. God warned him that they would turn his heart away to follow after their gods and lead him into idolatry. But Solomon disobeyed.

Solomon's Fall from Grace
Solomon had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. (Now if you have 700 wives, I don't even know why you would need any concubines.) That's a thousand women. And he probably didn't have a thousand ugly or "unique" looking women, either! Solomon probably had a thousand beautiful women. He had the best of the best.

Now I don't care, Brother, how good you look, how smart you are, or what you have going for you, you're not going to ever pull off having a thousand beautiful women. Someone else is going to get some of them. Most of us can't even handle it if the one person we think is so beautiful looks at us, because for the rest of the night, we're thinking, "She looked at me," and our hearts start beating faster at just the thought of that one look.

Well, this man Solomon had a thousand women he no doubt thought about. Solomon had done a whole lot for the Lord. He was the one who rebuilt the temple, and he didn't just build any shabby old temple. He spared no expense when building it. But the Bible says that Solomon did not go fully after the Lord, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.

For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father.
(1 Kings 11:4-6)

Let's see what Solomon had to say after he messed up with all those women.

Behold, this I have found, says the Preacher, while weighing one thing after another to find out the right estimate [and the reason]-

Which I am still seeking but have not found-one upright man among a thousand have I found, but an upright woman among all those [one thousand in my harem] have I not found.
(Eccl 7:27-28 AMP)

You see, Solomon probably took one woman at a time, got to know her, had a relationship with her, and even after being with a thousand of the finest women, still said that he did not find an upright woman.

In other words, he was never happy. He never found that one he was looking for. He was never blessed in that way. Why? Because he did things his own way. That's where Solomon messed up, and he paid the price for it.

Source: God's Plan For The Single Saint by Keith A. Butler, II
Excerpt permission granted by Word Of Faith Publishing