The Wisdom of....

1 Kings 3:9

"Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?"

Wisdom, discernment, understanding. The name Solomon is synonymous with these qualities. The "wisdom of Solomon" is a term used as often as the "patience of Job".

An interesting exercise is to insert your name into one of those and see how accurate a term it would be. For instance, the "wisdom of (your name)". What am I known for with regards to character?

Solomon's request and prayer to God should be echoed in our own hearts. Solomon writes in Proverbs of how God blesses the wise and how the foolish have nothing but sorrow. Our choice, when viewing these two options becomes quite obvious.

Am I asking God for wisdom? How would I see that manifest in my life when God answers my prayer?

"Only..."

1 Kings 3:3

"And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places."

Only...

The "however", the "except", the "but", the "and yet".

James 2:10

"For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all."

It should be every Christian's desire to live a righteous and pleasing life to God, all the whole realizing that only He is truly righteous. We are called to be like Christ, holy as He is holy, yet the fulfillment of that will only come after this life has passed. Until then we see our own shortcomings and faults. Those areas of constant struggle and frustration with the flesh.

Realizing those areas is the first step in addressing them. We cannot shrug our shoulders and say, "Oh well, at least everything else is right in my life." The Christian life is constant battle in the midst of unspeakable peace of Christ's salvation. What is displeasing to our Lord should receive our full attention as we strive to be holy as He is holy.

What is that "only" in my life? The one sin I can't seen to let go? Or perhaps I do not see it? Ask God to show you, and then do all you can in His power to remedy the issue.

Blessings and Obedience (2)

1 Kings 2:3

"And keep the charge of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself:"

As Christians we love God because He first loved us. We obey God because we love Him. Obedience brings benefits to our lives.

Think of it like an earthly parent-child relationship. A child may obey a command from a parent, while concealing a bad attitude. The child still reaps the rewards of obedience even though the child's heart was not obedient.

In the same way, a nonbeliever's obedience may benefit them, however they miss out on the true benefit of obedience from a sincere, believing heart. The true benefit is a close, reconciled relationship with our Heavenly Father. That is what God wants in His relationship with His children on a moment by moment basis.

Am I a child of God? Am I enjoying the benefits of obedience? If not, why not? Is my heart attitude reconciled to God?

Blessings and Obedience (1)

1 Kings 2:3

"And keep the charge of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself:"

At first glance it may appear that David is promising Solomon the blessings of God in his life if he does all these "good works". In this New Testament of grace that we are blessed to live in, this idea seems repugnant since we all know it is by grace that we are saved and receive God's favor. We know all our righteous works are like filthy, disgusting rags compared with God's true righteousness.

But take a closer look and it will become apparent that this is not what David means at all.

In this" game of life " that we all play, who made the rules? God did of course. He laid out commandments and judgments for us to follow. And just like any game, those who follow the rules will succeed. Can an unbeliever reap the benefits of honesty? Of course. What about faithfulness? Or compassion? An unbeliever can exhibit these qualities, following God's rules, and gain benefit from doing so.

So as a believer, doing good, following God's commands, is not done to curry favor, but out of love, and rewards are reaped. An unbeliever, perhaps even unwittingly may follow a command of God and also reap these benefits, not even knowing why.

continued...

They Were Not With Adonijah

1 Kings 1:8

"But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and Rei, and the mighty men which belonged to David, were not with Adonijah."

The easy choice would be to go with the young, charismatic leader that everyone seemed to love and flock to. But instead these men stood firm in loyalty to what they believed was right. They were not with Adonijah and history sees them as heroes.

Who am I with? Who am I not with? My heart and life is a kingdom with a king. Someone will rule me. Who will I choose to be king of my heart? Myself? Selfish desires? Money? Or perhaps the True King of kings?

But no one can serve two masters. I must make a conscious choice. It cannot be that I mentally acknowledge that God is my King. A subject obeys, respects, loves his king and serves Him willingly.

Who is king of my heart and life?

The Cost of Obedience

2 Samuel 24:24

"And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver."

What costs little often means little. A sacrifice is not a sacrifice unless it costs something.

Obedience is a kind of sacrifice and an offering that means more to God than physical sacrifices. Obedience is not usually easy, in fact it is more often than not painful and hard. Why is that? Because it is a sacrifice of selfish desires. Basic obedience happens when my desire is opposite of God's command and I choose to obey His command versus my selfish desire.

However this is not the purest obedience. The purest obedience comes when before the command is given, I have already sacrifices my selfish desires and surrendered to God's will. Then when the command comes I willingly obey with a glad heart. Not from compulsion or fear of punishment, but out of love.

What does my daily obedience look like? What is my attitude behind my obedience?

Bravery and Self-Sacrifice

2 Samuel 23:12

"But he stood in the midst of the ground, and defended it, and slew the Philistines: and the LORD wrought a great victory."

The praises of David's mighty men is spoken of here and we see that they were truly remarkable in their feats of bravery and valor. Yet the Lord is ultimately given the glory.

Bravery and valor do not come from within. Think of your own heart, your deepest feelings and thoughts. Are they, at the core and center, selfless, or selfish? All of us look out primarily for ourselves. Sometimes even our selfless acts are done for selfish reasons (glory, fame, recognition, etc.).

So if we are basely selfish, how can we ever be brave? Bravery is selflessness and love in tangible action. Those qualities come from one source - Jesus Christ. Only when He invades our lives, takes over completely, can we ever hope to be truly brave.

Do I desire to be brave? Do I desire it enough to surrender? Let Christ take over, it is an essential first step we each must take.