I have a question I want to pose to you as we begin the new year.
How did Solomon become so wise, and how can you and I be wise, as well, in 2011?
You and I need as much wisdom as Solomon needed in his day and age, because the choices facing each of us are increasingly difficult and complex as we try and live our lives out in this progressively complex, secularized, non-Christianized society.
In fact, you may find yourself in a situation even today that demands this kind of wisdom. Perhaps you feel like you’re stuck and you don’t know what to do — and you could use a dose of the wisdom of Solomon to help you make the right decision.
So how do you gain that wisdom? It begins with the understanding of what you possess as a child of God.
Let me take you first to Luke 11:31, which says, “Something greater than Solomon is here.” This, of course, is talking about when the Lord Jesus Christ came, wore our flesh, walked on our earth, slept in our beds, and ate our food.
After Jesus had lived, died, and risen again, He sent out His personality into the hearts of men and women…His Holy Spirit. He sent Himself into the hearts of those who would receive Him.
Now, in
1 Corinthians 2:16 we are told that when that happens, we have “the mind of Christ”! And if we have the mind of Christ — the One who is greater than Solomon with all his wisdom — then you and I, as Christians, have the potential to understand the decisions and complex problems in which we often find ourselves.
Think about it this way: Solomon didn’t have as much going for him as you and I have. He didn’t have the potential of actually possessing the life of Christ Himself — that he might lend us “His wisdom.”
So that is where we start in answering the question of how you and I can become wise like Solomon. We begin by understanding the truth that we possess the mind of Christ from which flows wisdom far greater than the wisdom Solomon possessed!
But we can learn from Solomon how to access that wisdom — how to live a life that is full of wisdom to make the hard and complex choices we must face each day of this new year.
In
1 Kings 3:3, there’s a little statement about Solomon that gives us a very important clue in how to become wise. It says, “Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the instructions given him by his father, David.”
There is much I could say about this verse, but there are two important things to note. The first is that Solomon made a choice to love God.
Solomon chose to respond to the relationship that God was offering him…and to love God back. It’s a question of choice, whether we will accept and receive His love. That is the starting point of wisdom.
The second is that Solomon behaved his belief! He showed his love for the Lord by doing something — walking according to the statutes of his father, David. He didn’t just talk love, he didn’t just sing love, and he didn’t just go to church and look as though he loved God. He
showed that he loved God by the life that he lived. He behaved his belief!
But there’s a third thing we learn from Solomon on how to gain wisdom. It is found in verse 9 of 1 Kings 3 when he responds to God’s offer to give him whatever he asks, and Solomon asks for a discerning heart.
After you have begun to behave your belief…as you’re growing in God and in your knowledge of Him…then you need to, moment by moment, every day of your life, pray the prayer of Solomon, “Give me wisdom. Lord, give me wisdom!”
Your prayer will be answered as James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”
