Finishing Great!

What is better, starting or finishing great? Like watching movies, I always wanted for the end to finish satisfied rather a good start but lousy ending. Yes, it’s true that having a great start and end is better than anything else, except that, it’s not realistic in a sense that it doesn’t happen always in life, but I may be wrong.

King David is a loyal follower of God even when he was still young. As you know, he wasn’t king yet; he didn’t acquire kingship by inheritance or succession, rather he became king because God wanted to. Back in his ‘wonder’ years, he was just an ordinary shepherd boy, but extra ordinary in some cases when he defeated wild, ferocious animals that threaten his flock just by using a slingshot and with bare hands. From that, we could tell David was fearless and would give even his dear life to protect and please God. Not only that, he was also a musician. He loves to sing and with a voice that soothes the ears of king Saul, and he also composed some of the Psalms in the bible.

On the other hand, King David’s son, Solomon, also came out very obedient at first that his kingdom was far more greater than any other kingdom at that time if not all time. He built palaces made out of strong cedar and pure gold. The deal was, King David thought of building God a temple in Israel to worship Him since God’s presence is always housed in a small and humble tent. But, God did not allow David to build the temple. God’s reason was David has fought many wars and killed many people, and the Lord was not pleased with it (This suggest that God’s law of, ‘thou shall not kill’ still applies even for a just cause). Instead, God told David that his son, Solomon, was to build the temple for Him as a dedication. And so, after King David’s death, Solomon became king and built the temple. Solomon was known to be the wisest king who ever lived since this was his request from God and God granted it. But later in his life, Solomon became disobedient and worshipped idols (because his foreign wives urged him). Solomon loved his wives more than God. Therefore, God got angry and divided the kingdom after Solomon’s reign.

This story is a classic example of finishing poor. He started well but in the end failed miserably. As I pondered, do people who have a similar story go to heaven? Are they saved? What do you think?