“And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.” (I Kings 3:28)
Solomon has fascinated me since I was a child. Imagine having a father like King David as your dad. Imagine growing up in that shadow. David’s legacy is legendary but it also has a dark side (no disrespect to David) – most of us have skeletons in our closets. Solomon came out of one of those dark times in King David’s life. Solomon was the second son of King David and Bathsheba. If you remember, David previously had a child out of wedlock with Bathsheba, but that child died. After David and Bathsheba married, she bore him another son – Solomon.
David went on to be remembered as a man after God’s own heart. He was a worshiper, he was a poet, he was a warrior, he was a priest-king. King David remains to this day a venerated figure in the history of the nation of Israel. He was a leader of the people – fearless, brave, and yet had a very tender heart. It was he who wrote Psalm 23 – “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…”
By the time Solomon grew to manhood he had seen the various sides of his father, so when it came time for him to take over the kingdom in his father’s place it seems only natural that he would feel that weight of responsibility, that expectation the nation had of him. The passage that intrigued me as a teenager was when God asked Solomon (prior to taking over the throne) what he wanted from God. Facing the task of taking over from one so great, Solomon’s only request was that God would grant him the wisdom he needed to rule the nation with wisdom. God’s response was that Solomon could have asked for long life, for victory over their enemies, for great riches, or anything else in the world; but, since he asked for wisdom, God willingly granted that request PLUS all the others! I remember as a teenager wanting to somehow figure out a way to trick God into asking me the same question because following Solomon’s request I figured he would make me the same deal! Have you ever thought things along that same line? Have you ever prayed (as I have), “God, if you get me out of this I promise I’ll never do it again” – only to go back on your word when you were cleared? God made that offer to Solomon because He knew Solomon’s true heart.
Now that I am getting older I understand all of this. When I was young (in the words of Paul) I thought as a child (foolishly), I spoke as a child (impetuously), and I acted like a child (stupidly and selfishly), but now that I am a man …. For years I wished I was raised in a different environment with different parents. I knew then that my dad and mom were doing the best they could with what they knew and had, but still (as a former student of mine one time said) it just wasn’t fair. I have been hamstrung all my life by the things I didn’t learn growing up, all the wisdom and knowledge of the ways of the world that other kids had. But you know what I am discovering? It’s not too late. God isn’t finished with me yet. Neither is He finished with YOU. As long as we have breath in our lungs and a desire in our hearts, God is able to restore the years the cankerworm, the palmerworm, and the locusts have taken. He, alone, can redeem those things we have learned along the way, the hard lessons we have received, the paths that we have walked, and make them productive for us – even now!
The verse we read today is taken from one of the first tests of Solomon’s wisdom after he became king. We never read in the Bible these words, “And God said unto Solomon, Because you have asked for wisdom….” followed by the words, “And BOOM! Solomon was wise.” All we have is God’s words promising him that his request had been granted. It doesn’t say God gave him some supernatural manifestation to prove it, we don’t read where angels sang, or the sky parted – nothing. The proof was in this unexpected test.
How about your life? How do your prayers align with God’s Word? Do you pray foolishly or selfishly? The Bible tells us over in the New Testament that many times we don’t receive because we ask for things to satisfy our selfish desires. Not all our prayers are that way, true. Sometimes we pray for good things for others, for healings, for salvations, whatever. So the next question is, how is your heart? You may be speaking the right words, but secretly in your heart are you asking “What’s in this for me?” Are the words coming out of your mouth – to God and to others – aligning with what you say you believe? Notice the wording there. Not what you believe, but what you SAY you believe. We say we believe God will provide all our needs according to His riches in heaven. That’s what we say. But do we confess that (or pray that), then immediately stand up and start saying, “I sure hope He comes through with this because…”? There’s the BOOM moment. You have just revealed what you TRULY believe because these words speak of wishes and hopes, not faith.
How do we, then, grow our faith? By hearing the Word of God repeatedly preached, by reading the Word of God daily, by meditating (by thinking about, studying the true meaning, by saying it over and over again to ourselves and others). These are all on-going, repeated action words. You don’t just hear something once and suddenly believe it in the depths of your core. Some would say this is nothing more than brainwashing. If so, let it be washed! We hear so much junk, we say so much junk, we see so much junk that our minds NEED to be washed! Faith comes by hearing and hearing and hearing, and reading and reading and reading, and living and living and living.
Sadly for us, the only way we know it is working and growing in our lives is by tests – much like this one Solomon faced. The tests in our lives isn’t because God hates us, it’s because He wants you to see what’s truly in your heart. Tests reveal to us our innermost thoughts and beliefs. Stop saying, “God hates me” and “I’ll never get ahead” or anything else that flies in the face of the Word of God. That’s why Paul says we are to rejoice in all things. Speak God’s favor over your life, speak His blessings on your life, and LET your faith grow!
Be blessed.
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