Wisdom

¹¹ Then God said to Solomon: “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked riches or wealth or honor or the life of your enemies, nor have you asked long life—but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself, that you may judge My people over whom I have made you king— ¹² wisdom and knowledge are granted to you; and I will give you riches and wealth and honor, such as none of the kings have had who were before you, nor shall any after you have the like.” NKJV

Let’s talk about the context of these two verses.  From verse 1 to verse 6 of 2 Chronicles chapter 1 God blessed Solomon, and he took the people to the high place (where the people could meet with God) and made special sacrifices to Him. In verse 7, God appears to Solomon and tells him to ask whatever he will.  In verses 8 through 10, Solomon asks for wisdom and knowledge to lead God’s people.

Solomon asked God not for wealth, health or abundance of any sort but he asked for wisdom.  How wise it was of him to ask God for a trait that he could use to push the nation of Israel to heights no one had ever seen before.  God was exceedingly pleased with the request and not only gave Solomon great wisdom, the likes of which this earth hadn’t seen before him or since but great wealth and favor among the nations.

Solomon was by no means a perfect man.  There’s only one perfect man, Jesus.  But he wrote practical advice for the ages in the Book of Proverbs.  Even today we quote from that Book.

My husband and I pray daily, both individually and corporately.  One of our prayers is that God gives us wisdom and favor in all things and with all people like work issues, family, finances, health.  All of it.   And He has been faithful to provide the wisdom and favor we need for the day.

One day last year my husband called me on the phone from work and said he was having a tough time dealing with a case he had (he’s a network engineer and many times those cases have a complexity that sometimes can be way over not on his head but also his colleagues.)  We had prayed that morning, but this was a special prayer for the specifics of the case.  We took about five minutes to ask the Lord to intervene and give my husband the “eyes” to see the problem to fix it or have His ministering angels intervene and fix it for him.  The wind up was when he got off the phone and went back to work on it, he figured it out, fixed it and the client was happy.  We have scores of stories like that.  Where God answered the prayer for wisdom.  God gives us our needs, not our greeds.  We were specific in the wisdom he needed for the moment and God answered that prayer.

He truly is a mighty and awesome God.

How are you gaining wisdom? Share your thoughts in the comments below.