“You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em,
Know when to walk away, know when to run.
You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table,
There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done.”

Those are the words of advice given by “The Gambler” in the 1978 country song by Kenny Rogers. While a prolific performer, it’s possible he’s known more for this one than any other. He was even portrayed singing it while playing poker in an insurance company’s commercial. The looks on the faces of the other players gave away their frustration at having to hear it – for the bazillionth time.

Successful gamblers mask their own emotions while reading those of their opponents. But, even successful gamblers don’t always succeed at masking their emotions and are likely to have “tells” that the truly observant will pick up and use to their own advantage. On the other hand some people would never succeed because their emotions show too easily and their faces or motions would expose the strength of their poker hand. They would not be able to hide what they were holding and the others would know whether to “hold ‘em” or “fold ‘em”.

This inability to mask our emotions or hide what we’re thinking applies in many areas of life. If you want to know what’s on someone’s mind simply look at what they spend their time and money doing. The record of Solomon’s work in building the Temple of Jehovah in Jerusalem confirms that God was on Solomon’s heart, except the record also confirmed he was thinking of himself even more. At the end of 1 Kings 6 we read that Solomon spent seven years building the Temple. However, the very next sentence gave the game away with the simple statement, “Now Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.” (1 Kings 7:1). That tell tells the tale.

That shows why the text would later declare “his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.” (1 Kings 11:4). Think about it. David’s realization that the ark was kept in a tent while he lived in a palace embarrassed him and drove him to want to build the temple. When told he wasn’t allowed to build it he poured his time, energy, and money into preparing for his son to build it as God had promised. Solomon built a magnificent temple for God, but was not embarrassed by the magnificence of his own palace.

Are we like David or Solomon? The tell is in what we spend our time, energy and money building: our stuff or the things of God!