Wisdom

"Here's what I want: Give me a God-listening heart so I can lead your people well, discerning the difference between good and evil. For who on their own is capable of leading your glorious people?" (1Kings1:9 The Message)

Right before this verse in the bible, God had asked Solomon what He could give him.  Solomon could have asked for anything in the world.  But because he asked for wisdom and truly desired it, God gave him that and so much more.

"Because you have asked for this and haven't grasped after a long life, or riches, or the doom of your enemies, but you have asked for the ability to lead and govern well, I'll give you what you've asked for—I'm giving you a wise and mature heart. There's never been one like you before; and there'll be no one after. As a bonus, I'm giving you both the wealth and glory you didn't ask for—“ (1Kings1:10-13 The Message)

How many of us would answer God the same way as Solomon?  Would we really be so selfless?  Asking for things that would benefit ourselves like, health, a long life, or financial stability would be the likely request of many of us.  But those things will only last so long.  Eventually health will fail, life will end, and wealth will be left behind.  What Solomon asked for had eternal significance and if we could actually see how significant that would be in our own lives we would all be asking for it.

For Solomon it had an immediate reward.  A few lines down in the same chapter we read this:

“The very next thing, two prostitutes showed up before the king. The one woman said, "My master, this woman and I live in the same house. While we were living together, I had a baby. Three days after I gave birth, this woman also had a baby. We were alone—there wasn't anyone else in the house except for the two of us. The infant son of this woman died one night when she rolled over on him in her sleep. She got up in the middle of the night and took my son—I was sound asleep, mind you!—and put him at her breast and put her dead son at my breast. When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, here was this dead baby! But when I looked at him in the morning light, I saw immediately that he wasn't my baby."

"Not so!" said the other woman. "The living one's mine; the dead one's yours." 
The first woman countered, "No! Your son's the dead one; mine's the living one." 
They went back and forth this way in front of the king. (1Kings 1:16-22)

Many of you know how this story then unfolds.  Solomon must determine who is the mother of this baby.  He proclaims he will cut the baby in two and give half to each woman.  Only the true mother cries out and begs King Solomon to give the baby to the other woman in order to spare his life.  In this way Solomon knows who the real mother truly is, and give the baby back to her. 

I don’t think it’s any coincidence that we see Solomon’s wisdom from the Lord in action so quickly after he’s asked for it.  When we truly seek the discernment and wisdom from God He gives it to us when we need it.  But how many times do we ask God for wisdom but not truly desire or care if it’s wisdom we receive?  How many of us really want the wisdom God desires to give us?  I’d venture to guess that many of us really just want our own way. 

Without wisdom, who knows what would have happened to that little baby.  Thankfully Solomon sought discernment from God just in time.

I personally need, want, and pray for God’s wisdom in my own life.  I want to know that when I move, speak, and act, that I am doing so under the guidance of the Lord.  That way my life will end up counting for something much more than things that will eventually pass away.