Matthew Perry, actor on the hit show "Friends", died this weekend. Now I was not a Friends watcher, but my son and daughter-in-law were. As such I know my son held him as a hero of sorts, not for the show as much as the problems that come with fame, addictions, and illnesses he had overcome- seemingly. As I reflected on this, I see a pattern- and without digging deep into that pattern, I can share with you the one truth that comes through this:
Sometimes, the damage you did is too much.
You don't need to have a relapse for this to be true- all you need is a body or mind that just isn't resilient enough anymore. We like to think of heroes as crossing the finish line of self-struggle with laurels of being just as good, as strong, as smart as they were before. And that just isn't how it goes.
But that isn't the only problem. I don't know if this man had faith, in what, how deep. But I do know this:
Psa 127:1 A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon. Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
Self-improvement, self-rescue, only goes so far. And this doesn't just apply to celebrities, or even unbelievers. At least three times in the last few years I have seen grieving churches mourning pastors who took there own lives. Even in the Bible, this rule holds. Look at Solomon. God gave him several great gifts:
2Ch 1:11 God answered Solomon, "Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked possessions, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, and have not even asked long life, but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may govern my people over whom I have made you king,
2Ch 1:12 wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you riches, possessions, and honor, such as none of the kings had who were before you, and none after you shall have the like."
But with these riches came the idea that he should rely on THE
Lord, not on the gifts. Relying on the Lord would have meant that he would have studied His Word. And he would have seen in what we call Deuteronomy 17:
Deu 17:14 "When you come to the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, 'I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,'
Deu 17:15 you may indeed set a king over you whom the LORD your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.
Deu 17:16 Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the LORD has said to you, 'You shall never return that way again.'
Deu 17:17 And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.
Deu 17:18 "And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests.
Deu 17:19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them,
Deu 17:20 that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.
You notice four commands a
King needed to keep in the eyes of God. What is obvious is that the third and fourth ones he paid not near enough attention to, because he broke the first two right off the bat:
2Ch 1:16 And Solomon's import of horses was from Egypt and Kue, and the king's traders would buy them from Kue for a price.
2Ch 1:17 They imported a chariot from Egypt for 600 shekels of silver, and a horse for 150. Likewise through them these were exported to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Syria.
First chapter of his story, there he was going TO Egypt FOR horses- literally the first thing Moses warned against. And starting with Pharaoh's daughter, he totally obliterated the second rule...
1Ki 11:1 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,
1Ki 11:2 from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, "You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods." Solomon clung to these in love.
1Ki 11:3 He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart.
And this takes us back to Psalm 127. This grand "house", or "dynasty" that Solomon built soon cracked apart. It cracked when God sent enemies like Jereboam to harass and distract him. It widened when his son Rehoboam ignored his 'wise instruction' (Most of the Book of Proverbs) and followed instead his example (Most of the Book of Ecclesiastes). Within months of his passing, the kingdom was ripped asunder (I Kings 12:16), and the Temple he so elegantly and wisely built was looted (I Kings 14:25-6).
In the end, all of Solomon's labor was in vain, because he he put his foundation on his wisdom, and not on the Lord who gave the gift. If we can take one lesson from tragedy, let it be this one- no one is immune- unless you walk with God all your days. And even then...
