While God is capable of granting our every request, He is especially pleased to grant our request for discernment and understanding. Solomon first worships God before humbly approaching Him to ask not for fame and fortune, but to know right and wrong so that he may lead God’s people honorably.
Wisdom In All Things Special Series
Observations from 1 Kings 1-11: Solomon’s Missteps, Misuses, and Just Plain Misses
In our last post in this series, we will see God’s response to Solomon’s request for discernment and understanding, and how God can bless us beyond our expectation.
If you’ve ever had to make a pitch before a boardroom of leadership, or, even if you can recall that season of your life when you had to explain your school report card to your parents, you’ll have what probably was the general unease Solomon felt after he’d made his request of Yahweh.
It is now God’s turn to let Solomon know what He thinks of his request. But we shouldn’t be surprised by his answer, given Solomon’s approach: humility from a heart-felt devotion to God.
God loves justice
We find God’s response to Solomon in 1 Kings 3:10. Solomon didn’t ask God what to do, but what to be. His request was to be the kind of man that had a “listening heart” with an “instinct for the truth” that would walk down the wisest path. What Solomon requested, and the way he requested it, is what pleased the Lord. In other words, Solomon nailed it.
To provide us an even clearer understanding of what that was, God lists those things that are in direct contrast to Solomon’s request for discernment and understanding. What God would not have been pleased by was if Solomon asked for long life, riches and the death of his enemies. The list reads like what any person would ask a genie if given three wishes: “I wish for… health, wealth, and stealth.”
When Solomon was given the chance to ask God for anything, he asked for “discernment (literally: hearing) to understand justice.” That one sentence should significantly shape our understanding of what it means to be wise. We are wise when we seek to know, then do, what is right. And by right, it is meant that God’s justice will be served. Which brings this full circle.
A humble heart that is freely and generously expressing its devotion to God is blessed with the ability to know right and wrong as it seeks to execute God’s justice, that is attributed to, and a reflection of, God’s grace and love, which should humble us and lead to a sincere worship of God.
Because Solomon asked for what he did, God gave him a wise and discerning heart so that he was uniquely qualified and empowered in a way that can only be recognized as God’s enablement to lead His people. We see in verse 12 that it was God’s intention to put true wisdom on display for the whole world.
But God didn’t stop there. As we seek first the kingdom of God, all the necessary parts are provided for (Matt. 6:33)–and then some. For Solomon, that meant not only being given the most discerning mind for the sake of God’s kingdom, but what he did not seek: honor and wealth. Solomon’s request was for God’s sake and not his own, and in response, God granted him his request and blessed him beyond his expectation.
Solomon’s blessing, with a caution
But–and there always is a but–had Solomon recalled his reading of the Torah, he might have sensed some familiarity with the condition that God presented him in verse 14:
“And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”
1 Kings 3:14
Doesn’t it seem strikingly similar to what God said to Adam and Eve? Essentially God permitted His abundance so long as they remained clear of “that one tree”. That was their ‘but’. Solomon would receive discernment and understanding, and riches and honor to boot, as long as he ‘walked worthy.’
Why do we get so close to the line that we end up tripping over it. Solomon’s life will be shortened if he failed to keep God’s statutes and commandments like his father. That failure–a misstep, or misuse, but just a plain miss–would change the country forever. Solomon’s divided heart would lead to a divided kingdom.
With that stipulation, Solomon’s dreamy exchange with God ends. The next day, he heads back to Jerusalem to worship God before the ark of the covenant.
Solomon’s wisdom is tested
It seems almost immediate that Solomon’s new found wisdom is tested. He is presented with the case of two prostitutes who are appearing before the king because each are charging the other with stealing their new born child. Solomon must determine which woman is the rightful mother, and does so by stating that the baby be cut in half.
What you might expect coming from a ruthless king is actually an amazingly perceptive pronouncement knowing that the true mother would rather give up her child than see it slain.
Solomon passed the test and put on display God’s blessing of wisdom and affirmation of His choice as king. What confidence it must have given the people to know that their king had the ‘wisdom of God’.
God confirms His work in us, and what He has called us to, publicly. Not so people recognize you, but God in you as we live out of the calling and confirmation of God on our lives. People want to be influenced and lead by someone who has the wisdom of God.
Lessons learned from Solomon’s reign
This brief look at the first few chapters of 1 Kings and the beginning of Solomon’s reign provides us insight into how we must scrutinize our hearts to properly care for our kingdoms.
First, we must never forget that a divided heart leads to a divided kingdom. We may start off just one-degree off course, but over time, it ends up leading us toward a destination we had every intention of avoiding.
Older doesn’t mean wiser. We don’t automatically grow into greater wisdom as we grow older. Idolatry is still possible as we age. The spiritual life is a marathon, not a sprint. A good start is necessary to finish well, but not a guarantee.
Life lived apart from God will be meaningless, regardless of education, fulfilled goals, the greatest of pleasures, and the greatest abundance of wealth (Ecclesiastes 1:2). As we see with Solomon, even the wisest heart is prone to succumb to it persuasion.
As was the case with Saul and David before him, Solomon saw how his response to God’s grace and His Law determined his destiny, and it is really no different for us. What we have observed in Solomon’s life can help us avoid the missteps, misuses, and just plain misses when it comes to handling the role God has called you to–and keep us from a divided heart–as we pursue “the single, most concentrated effort we’ll carry out in our lives for the glory of God.”
Wisdom In All Things Special Series: Solomon’s Missteps, Misuses, and Just Plain Misses
Part 1 – Ask for Wisdom as Solomon Asked for Wisdom
Part 2 – The Rise and Fall of Solomon
Part 3 – Walk in God’s Ways: David’s Charge to Solomon
Part 4 – Solomon’s “Missteps” as King
Part 5 – Solomon’s Request for Wisdom
Photo by parinay clickers on Unsplash