That night God appeared to Solomon and said, “What do you
want? Ask, and I will give it to you!”
Solomon replied to God, “You showed great and faithful
love to David, my father, and now you have made me king in his place. O Lord God,
please continue to keep your promise to David my father, for you have made me
king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth! 10 Give
me the wisdom and knowledge to lead them properly, for who could possibly
govern this great people of yours?”
God said to Solomon, “Because your greatest desire is to
help your people, and you did not ask for wealth, riches, fame, or even the
death of your enemies or a long life, but rather you asked for wisdom and
knowledge to properly govern my people— I will certainly
give you the wisdom and knowledge you requested. But I will also give you
wealth, riches, and fame such as no other king has had before you or will ever
have in the future!” 2 Chronicles 1:7-12
Life is not always as simple as right and wrong. We are inundated with opinions that conflict
one another. Trust this person. Don’t trust that person. Trust that party. Don’t trust that party. Stay away from those people. I love those people. It starts to ultimately boil down to a simple
argument of ‘us vs. them.’ I’m good with
that kind of language only when it comes to the Detroit ‘Bad Boys’ vs. the
Michael Jordan ‘Bulls’ because that is a basketball game, and for the record, I
will always be a ‘Bad Boy for life’ 😊 But do I hate Michael Jordan? Do I think he is evil? Absolutely not. Why?
Didn’t he beat my favorite team?
Did he not ridicule them and ostracize my favorite player? He did.
So why? It is really and fairly
simple. First, he is still a human being
like me who wanted to do his best and win.
Even as a rival, that is easy to understand. Second, I must trust that he meant to do good. Not harm.
There are two beliefs I have in dealing with people. One, we all want to do our best, and two while
we know there is evil in the world, I trust God will guide me to the right people
at the right time. Furthermore, He gave
me wisdom to discern who means well who does not. Is this philosophy perfect? No. I
am at times flawed in my judgment. But
wisdom is about learning from God and experience. Not being perfect.
Having trust in God is how one acquires wisdom to both understand
and trust others. In reading the
beginning of Solomon’s reign, he is given a choice from God. He could have anything he wanted. Solomon asked for wisdom and knowledge. There are a couple of attributes not said
here but very important to note. First
is the humility shown by Solomon.
Instead of asking for personal recognition and fame, he asked to better
rule his people to whom God entrusted him with.
This speaks to a major principle of our faith: it’s not about us. It’s about Him. We are to be humble in our request
recognizing that it is from God that all blessing flow. This bring us to the second attribute:
trust. There is a mutual trust between
God and Solomon. God entrusted Solomon
to be King of Israel because He knew Solomon would do well in that role, and
Solomon trusted God as a provider knowing that he could not rule without His
provision and care. Is it any wonder
that Solomon would write, “Trust in the Lord with all you heart and lean not on
your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5 NIV) You see, trusting in God leads to
wisdom. We are to be humble at heart to
allow Him into our spirit, and from there all else flows. Love.
Patience. Understanding. Trust.
God gives us all we need if we just trust in Him. There is so much that we are inundated with
that we at times are overwhelmed.
However, if we put our trust in God entirely then how little would we have
to worry about? Jesus said, “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat?
What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of
unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and
live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” (Matthew
6:31-33) This was the trust Solomon had in God.
Let us build a greater trust in Him as well. Where are you placing your trust in yourself
above God? Do you pray to God for wisdom
and understanding in all you do? My
prayer is that we are humble enough to lean into God to gain wisdom and
understanding of others. Amen.
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