The heart of wisdom

Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven, and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart; you have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day. Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’ Now therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David my father. “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. (1 Kings 8:22–29)

It did not take long for God's answer to Solomon’s request for wisdom. The rest of this prayer is essentially the Gospel, requesting forgiveness for His people when they sin and asking guidance for life.

I seldom hear prayers like this. Too often request are made for health, prosperity, and comfort. These days, many Christians do not want to be sick, needy, or in distress, even though it is trials that we grow. Prayer requests are often for relief from trials even though the NT says:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. . . . Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. (James 1:2–12)

After 30+ moves and many changes in life, it seems that change is often feared because it requires learning how to manage new circumstances. In other words, wanting to continue to control life rather than be plopped into something new that cannot be controlled by self-effort. This means that God must be trusted, even though running life my own way fits His description of sin:

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6) 

In the wisdom God gave him, Solomon realized that going his own way would be contrary to God's way. He eventually failed some of those tests too, just like the rest of us, but would I even know the extent of my sin if the circumstances of life did not test my loyalty to God?

Lord Jesus, You gave Solomon the wisdom to know how much he needed You and to pray this prayer. I’m feeling a great need for wisdom too. I don’t know what trials lie ahead, today or in future days, but whatever comes, I want the to deal with it Your way and not my own. “Let my heart therefore be wholly true to You, Lord our God, walking in Your statutes and keeping Your commandments, as at this day.” (1 Kings 8:61)

Trust God's plan…

At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.” 
And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but 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 many to be numbered or counted for multitude. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” 
It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days. And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.” 
And Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants. (1 Kings 3:5–15)

My dreams are usually stories that make little sense. However, several times I’ve gone to bed with something on my mind and had a dream that made sense of it. Lately I’m trying to get more order in my life and have had amazing ideas pop up in dreams to show me how.
Solomon’s dream was awesome. He was given far more than his humble request and became famous as well as wise and wealthy. His prayer is instruction for my prayers.

First, acknowledge what God has already done — and that I do not deserve any of it. Then ask for wisdom for the day. Simple. Why this request? Because I don’t know what the day will bring.

Yesterday could not have been predicted. A server in an eating place tell me her struggles and ask me to pray for her. Another person told me she was losing her sight and God gave me words to encourage her. After that, a new friend came to chat and it felt like she was someone I have known forever. Then a stranger approached and told me of losing her Christian son a few months ago and how she had not accepted it and was not grieving. I affirmed that he was not dead, that he just moved to a different address. She joyfully agreed. God put a sparkle in her eyes and amazement in my heart.

When I came home, I knew all that was God's doing, and beyond anything I could have asked for or imagined. Nothing was planned. It just happened and I was watching it happen and being blessed as I watched Him bless those ladies.

Jesus, we talk about being used, or pray for this or that, but I like Solomon’s prayer. I just need Your wisdom and trust You to make Your plan happen without making any plans of my own.

Jehovah is on His throne!

Then Nathan said to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, “Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith has become king and David our lord does not know it? Now therefore come, let me give you advice, that you may save your own life and the life of your son Solomon. Go in at once to King David, and say to him, ‘Did you not, my lord the king, swear to your servant, saying, “Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne”? Why then is Adonijah king?’ Then while you are still speaking with the king, I also will come in after you and confirm your words.” (1 Kings 1:11–14)

It had already been determined that Solomon would take the throne after David died. However another man had a following and determined to be the next king. This would not happen by popular vote as in our democracy. 

Not only that, the life of the rest of David’s family was in danger with Adonijah as king. To put a royal mother to death along with her offspring, though perhaps unusual, was not unknown. Nathan the prophet Nathan says this may be Bathsheba’s fate. He also knew God’s will for Solomon because David told him:

But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and have waged great wars. You shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood before me on the earth. Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies. For his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. He shall build a house for my name. He shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever.’ (1 Chronicles 22:8–10)

Since David was near the end of his life, he needed reminders of this and of the conspiracy that was happening. When told, he took wise steps to insure that Solomon became the next king.

This event is told with much detailed description. As a detail person, getting a big picture is a challenge. What I do see is the activity of our spiritual enemy trying to thwart the will of God. In this case, he uses Adonijah’s ambition to rule and David’s feeble condition to try and stop Him from putting his choice on the throne.

God refused to allow that enemy by strengthening His servant David to declare his intentions as the one who still had the authority to do so — after Nathan and Bathsheba informed him of the plot.

The Bible says God sets up kings and also puts them down. We watch the news and wonder about those currently in power, yet I’m hearing that in war-torn places thousands of people are turning to Christ because of the decisions of their evil political leaders. We might send food and military aid, but God is using their horrible situations to grant mercy and eternal life. 

Oh God, surely Your ways are not our ways. You remain on the throne and as mere mortals plot to usurp You, they cannot. Jesus is King of kings, and cannot be destroyed nor can His family be erased. You have given us eternal life, no matter what ambitious and God-hating enemies try to do. You are our hiding place, our shelter in all storms, our eternal hope, the one still in charge of even those who seem to be controlling what is happening in this messed-up world. Praise Your powerful and holy Name!

Grieving…

And the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and he became sick. David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. On the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us. How then can we say to him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm.” But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” They said, “He is dead.” Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate. Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.” He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.” (2 Samuel 12:15–23)

Grief can take many forms. The saddest are those that feel it deeply and for the rest of their lives. Everything reminds them of their loss and they feel hopeless and unable to experience joy or purpose. The funerals are sad, if there is one, and the promises of God are not mentioned nor the hope we have in Him.

Most dictionaries define hope as a desire for something, a ‘hope so’ or wish. That is not biblical hope. God promises eternal life, and because of His nature, faith knows that what He offers is true. He proves it by raising raised His Son from the dead.

Yet even before that happened, David knew it would. God puts “eternity in our hearts” as part of the changes that occur through faith, but may not realize that  faith is the answer to the sorrow of grief. David knew he would see his son again, just as I know I will see Jesus — and my parents, and my sister and many more loved ones again. This hope is based on God’s promise and on the resurrection of Jesus. Both are evidence that prove He can and will deliver on His promise:

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18)

Death has been viewed as our enemy and we fight it, as if we never want it to happen, but the Bible views it as seeing Jesus and becoming like Him (1 John 3:1-3). For shame that anyone would see that as a bad thing.

Jesus, every day I pray and often sing my desire to be like You. You make that happen as I see You as You are, not my genie whose only goal is comfort and granting my wishes, but as the King of kings and Lord of lords who has given me the hope of eternal life. My death is not ceasing to live but merely a change of address and moving to a far better place to live than this one.

 

Free to choose — BUT…

Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’ ” David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die.” (2 Samuel 12:7–14)

Every choice I’ve made, including every sin, has consequences. Obedience to God generally results in good things, for that is His intention. He tells me what to do that will bless my life.

However, if my choice comes from “I know better” or “I want something different” the results can vary greatly. If I confess the sin, God forgives…

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

But confession and forgiveness may not change the consequences of what I said or did. David’s confession did not bring Uriah back to life, nor did it keep the baby from dying. Yet unlike Saul, God did not removed David from the throne because of his disobedience.

The NT promises that those who put their faith in Jesus Christ have a guaranteed eternal hope. I may lose rewards but not the everlasting life. It is a gift of grace based on what Jesus has done, not on what I have done or failed to do.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9)
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)

Why then the consequences? For me, they show me why obedience is important, wake me up to the importance of God's will, and teach me that I am not as wise as I thought I was. 

And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:5–11)

Jesus, consequences are seldom easy, but they are not a punishment as much as they are a classroom and a tool to teach me humility and lead me into deeper faith. In them I see Your great determination to transform my life but also they reveal Your awesome holiness.

Responding to God's goodness

And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ” In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David. 
Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. You have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God! And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord God! Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it. Therefore you are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods? And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you, O Lord, became their God. And now, O Lord God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken. And your name will be magnified forever, saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel,’ and the house of your servant David will be established before you. For you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house.’ Therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord God, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever.” (2 Samuel 7:16–29)

Most of the posts on social media seem to be AI generated, yet a few of them are blessings. Last night a little girls was asked about what she wanted most. She replied, “The kingdom of God” and when the interviewer asked why, she said:

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33)

This was on a comedy clip but no one laughed. Instead the child received a loud and sincere round of applause.

Weeks ago, I heard someone say that all evils in the world would change if everyone was thankful. From that reaction to this verse from the lips of a child, many folks seem to agree that we need a way to think and live that is beyond what we normally know and do. A child wants what he wants right now. However, this definition can also apply to adults! If only more of us wanted first the kingdom of God.

Jesus, I know it is true. Wanting Your will do be done on earth as it is in heaven is kingdom living and when my focus is on living as Your child, You bless me in surprising ways. May You raise up more children and adults that have that as their main desire.

God cares about the details!

When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. But David heard of it and went down to the stronghold. Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. And David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?” 
And the Lord said to David, “Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand.” 
And David came to Baal-perazim, and David defeated them there. And he said, “The Lord has broken through my enemies before me like a breaking flood.” Therefore the name of that place is called Baal-perazim. 
And the Philistines left their idols there, and David and his men carried them away. And the Philistines came up yet again and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. And when David inquired of the Lord, he said, “You shall not go up; go around to their rear, and come against them opposite the balsam trees. And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then rouse yourself, for then the Lord has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.” 
And David did as the Lord commanded him, and struck down the Philistines from Geba to Gezer. (2 Samuel 5:17–25)

Two major lessons here for me. One is to ask the Lord about the challenges that lie before me. Do I fight them? Or do I not? Some of them involve others and that battle might be a training period for them and I need to stay out of it. Some may need supporting prayers. I cannot assume that all sickness needs healing or or every sin I see needs rebuking. I need to ask God if I’m to go to war and change things, or not.

The other lesson is more subtle, a battle plan that involves strategy and timing based on God's instructions and includes waiting. The first battle is about courage; the second is about deep trust and listening.

Yesterday’s sermon included instruction like these two. First a general encouragement to speak about Jesus to others; then more details about who to put in that category, then and suggestions for ways to do it and when. This message was out of a NT passage about winning the battle for souls, to me an obvious parallel to David’s OT battle against the enemies of God's people in a physical sense.

Jesus, I’m aware of the war for souls, and of the many ways those spiritual enemies try to thwart me from even asking You what to do, never mind doing it. Keep me alert to Your voice and how to fight so that You are glorified. Grant the details and keep my ears open and my whole being busy doing what You tell me to do.