1 Kings 11:9-13
"9 And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice 10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded. 11 Therefore the Lordsaid to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. 12 Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. 13 However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.”"
The real question that arises for us from these verses is whether we are able to read them with any kind of insight, and understanding, of the tremendous thing they are saying. For this is the record of the beginning of the decline and fall of an empire, a decline caused by a de- parture from the principles and laws that made it great. Nothing could illustrate more pun- gently the truth underlying the words, 'Where there is no vision, the people perish' and 'Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.' This is a much-needed word for our own nation. It does not seem to have dawned as yet on masses of Britain's population that we are no longer a great world power, that in fact, in the struggle between East and West, we are not regarded as very important any more. Leadership in world affairs has passed from us, not only in politics, but in economics, trade, commerce and industry. The decline and fall of the British Empire is a subject we have scarcely got used to as yet, but that it is in process is very evident to other nations. The fact is, God has taken greatness from us as a nation because we have forsaken His holy laws and the principles that made us great. Some of the kingdom was spared to Solomon (13), but for David's sake, not his own, and likewise, what remains of our fading and diminishing influence and authority does so not because of our merits, but because of the prayers of our fathers. This should be a humiliating thought to us. The proud boast in 'Rule Britannia' that 'Britons never shall be slaves' has not only become somewhat tattered; it also looks as if it might not even he true in a few years time. Has it ever occurred to us that an alternative to devastation and annihilation by nuclear warfare might be domination and tyrannisation by the Communist powers? Have we any moral right to suppose that we in the West will be able to outwit the wily Russian leaders when we have immorally departed from God?