Wise Like King Solomon. (AF Devotional – 03 October 2021)
One of the most encouraging verses in the Bible on finding help is found in James 1:5. The apostle James doesn’t limit this promise to a certain group, but says, “If any of you lacks wisdom…” Furthermore, when we ask God for help, he writes that the Lord gives liberally and without reproach. God is not only generous in helping us, but He does not express disappointment with such requests. The Lord is delighted when we come seeking His guidance.
It’s also worth taking note that James says, “If any of you lacks wisdom…” The Greek word for wisdom is sophia, which is more than intellectual knowledge. Sometimes when looking for help in our lives, we seek for ideas that might only touch the surface of a problem. Wisdom goes deep and provides insight into overlooked factors, such as our motives.
One of my favorite ways to approach Bible study is to discover Christ in all the Bible. An interesting way Jesus is presented in Scripture is through a connection with wisdom. Christ embodies wisdom. The apostle Paul describes Jesus as “the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24). The book of Proverbs regularly speaks of wisdom as a person (Proverbs 1:20; 8:1; 9:1–5). And so Christ is the source of all wisdom.
When seeking God’s guidance, take time to search your heart and confess any known sin that might prevent God’s blessing (Psalm 66:18). Think of your motives (James 4:3), have faith that the Lord can lead you (Psalm 32:8), and seek counsel from godly people (Proverbs 11:14).
Finally, be open to different ways God might be directing you. We call these “providences.” These are signs or indications of how the Lord could be opening or closing doors. It might be a special Bible verse, a comment from a Christian friend, or an opening pathway.
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”
James 1:5
Now Solomon made a treaty with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and married Pharaoh’s daughter; then he brought her to the City of David until he had finished building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall all around Jerusalem. Meanwhile the people sacrificed at the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days. And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places. Now the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place: Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask! What shall I give you?” And Solomon said: “You have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; You have continued this great kindness for him, and You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. Then God said to him: “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days. ”Then Solomon awoke; and indeed it had been a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.
Now two women who were harlots came to the king, and stood before him. And one woman said, “O my lord, this woman and I dwell in the same house; and I gave birth while she was in the house. Then it happened, the third day after I had given birth, that this woman also gave birth. And we were together; no one was with us in the house, except the two of us in the house. And this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. So she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from my side, while your maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. And when I rose in the morning to nurse my son, there he was, dead. But when I had examined him in the morning, indeed, he was not my son whom I had borne.” Then the other woman said, “No! But the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.” And the first woman said, “No! But the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.” Thus they spoke before the king. And the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son, who lives, and your son is the dead one’; and the other says, ‘No! But your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’ ”Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to one, and half to the other.” Then the woman whose son was living spoke to the king, for she yearned with compassion for her son; and she said, “O my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him!” But the other said, “Let him be neither mine nor yours, but divide him.” So the king answered and said, “Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him; she is his mother.” And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had rendered; and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.
Pandemic, Politics, Papacy and Prophecy
The gospel is to be presented, not as a lifeless theory, but as a living force to change the life. God desires that the receivers of His grace shall be witnesses to its power. Those whose course has been most offensive to Him He freely accepts; when they repent, He imparts to them His divine Spirit, places them in the highest positions of trust, and sends them forth into the camp of the disloyal to proclaim His boundless mercy.
