Actions speak louder

It may be a cliche but sometimes cliche's are true, actions do indeed speak louder than words, and we can see this all the time but we see it many times in the Bible particularly in Israel's king.

Let's look at Solomon establishing his palace:
It took Solomon thirteen years, however, to complete the construction of his palace. 2 He built the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon a hundred cubits long, fifty wide and thirty high, with four rows of cedar columns supporting trimmed cedar beams. 3 It was roofed with cedar above the beams that rested on the columns—forty-five beams, fifteen to a row. 4 Its windows were placed high in sets of three, facing each other. 5 All the doorways had rectangular frames; they were in the front part in sets of three, facing each other. (1 Kings 7:1-5 NIV)
So in a vaccum this passage doesn't sound that bad but in it's context it makes for quite an indictment on Solomon.

This is what comes immediately before:
In the eleventh year in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the temple was finished in all its details according to its specifications. He had spent seven years building it. (1 Kings 6:38 NIV)
So it takes Solomon six more years, almost double, to build his palace. In the original Hebrew the words temple and palace are the same. Solomon spent more time on his palace than he did on God's!

It gets worse:
He built the throne hall, the Hall of Justice, where he was to judge, and he covered it with cedar from floor to ceiling. 8 And the palace in which he was to live, set farther back, was similar in design. Solomon also made a palace like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom he had married. (1 Kings 7:7-8 NIV)
Solomon doesn't just build one place but three, and a palace for his foreign wife, which the Israelites were commanded to not have!

For us Solomon poses as a warning. He often spoke so highly of God yet his actions show that he didn't consider God as more important than him. How often do we do the same thing? We say all the right things but our actions aren't in line with that, for those of us that work in ministry (or any leadership position) we need to especially watch this as we are called to be above reproach.