If you had one wish, what would you ask for? Would you ask for wealth, beauty or even power? How would you use your one chance to get whatever you wanted? The Bible reminds us that God gave King Solomon one wish. There were many things that Solomon could have been granted. His request was for wisdom so that he could rule God’s people in a godly way.
If you are interested in this Biblical account it can be found in 1 Kings 3:5-13. God not only made Solomon the wisest man ever but he also blessed him with all the things that he did not ask for. The question I want us to ponder is what God’s gift of wisdom is.
I am not sure that many of us think about how Solomon got his wisdom or even how we gain wisdom. It could be easy to think that God just did a Wikipedia type information dump into Solomon’s brain. Now God could have done that but I think that God’s gift was much greater than that. I believe it was the capacity to be wise. Think about this for a moment. God could have given Solomon all the facts or He could give him a mind desire to know and apply truth. Wisdom, in the Bible, is more than just being able to win Jeopardy. It is the ability to apply truth in real life situations.
The first illustration of wisdom shared in 1 Kings 3:16-27 is the account of two women who lived together fighting over who was the real mom of the living son as the other woman’s child died during the night. This is the account where he asked for a sword to split the child in two to resolve the conflict. Here we see wisdom in action. The real mother out of love for here son was willing to give him to the other woman so that his life would be saved.
Godly wisdom is the ability to connect the dots and that is what Solomon did. We learned that “And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind dlike the sand on the seashore” (1 Kings 4:29) I believe that is what is described as “breadth of mind.” God gave Solomon the ability and the desire for wisdom. Solomon was able to grow in wisdom, connect the dots, through learning. 1 Kings 4:33 reminds us that Solomon was knowledgeable in many disciplines. It also leads me to believe that God gave him the heart of a learner to couple with the divine gift of wisdom.
It is easy to think that Solomon hit the lottery with God giving him a wish. It was definitely a huge blessing. Yet, the Lord also reminds us that through our relationship with Him we will also become wise if we will apply ourselves. The Bible reminds us that a relationship with the creator is the first step to becoming wise. We are reminded that God will grant wisdom in response to our prayers. We also acquire wisdom by learning the Bible!
God has revealed that there will never be another man with Solomon’s level of wisdom, but He does promise to give us wisdom if we will walk with Him! Our request to God can be as simple as, “Lord help me understand what I am reading in your Word!”
-Pastor Joe Parkinson