I Kings 10:24 And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart
Children can ask questions that wise men cannot answer. When my children were little, they asked me all kinds of questions that I had no idea about and no answer for. In I Kings 10 you have a very capable woman, the Queen of Sheba, who hears of the fame of Solomon, whom God had graced with wisdom, and she came to test him with hard questions. The Bible says after that episode “there was no more spirit in her.” She realized Solomon had been graced by God with heavenly wisdom and she said, “Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice.”
Solomon himself was a child in understanding and wisdom in I Kings 3 when he famously prayed, “God, I am like a child. Your people are great and I do not have the discernment I need to lead so great a people.” Solomon asked and God gave the wisdom he needed. I Kings 10:23-24 says, “So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom. And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.” Everyone realized he was extraordinarily wise because God was the source of that wisdom.
Friend, no matter your background of intellect or your failure or success rate, you will only lack what you refuse. James 1 says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.” God gives generously and will not scold you for needing or asking Him for wisdom. Any self-aware, honest person would realize there are questions he faces today that are beyond his capacity to give the right answer, but they are not beyond God’s capacity. God is willing to give what you need. You will only lack what you refuse. So, why wouldn’t you ask God for the wisdom you need today?
There may be a couple of reasons. First, you may feel like you don’t need it. Well, everyone needs it. “If any of you lack wisdom.” Who doesn’t lack wisdom? The answer is only the person foolish enough to think he is wise enough. A wise person realizes that he is not wise enough. The wise women talked about in Proverbs knows that wisdom comes from God.
It is interesting in I Kings that Solomon already had wisdom. It is abundantly obvious. You find that over and again. For example, in I Kings 2:6 David is talking to Solomon and says, “Do therefore according to thy wisdom.” Solomon justified the confidence David had in him in having wisdom. Again, in I Kings 2:9 David says, “For thou art a wise man, and knowest what thou oughtest to do.” Indeed, Solomon was a wise man and did know what to do. Solomon shows himself to be very savvy politically, yet Solomon realized that as wise as he was, he wasn’t wise enough to do what God has charged him with doing. Sometimes we don’t ask simply because we don’t recognize our need. It takes a wise person to realize he isn’t wise enough.
Second, we may not ask because of alternatives. For Solomon we see little clues that there were small problems that eventually became very big. One was Pharoah’s daughter. Solomon married into the family of Pharoah, and Pharaoh was his father-in-law. Then, I Kings 10:26-29 mentions three times that he had horses brought out from Egypt. Deuteronomy 17 is very clear that Israel’s king is to not multiply horses to himself nor cause the people to return to Egypt to the end that he should multiply horses. It also speaks of marrying the wrong woman. Egyptians were not specifically mentioned in that regard, but the whole point of these statements was that they were not to return to Egypt from whence they had escaped. Egypt was a touchstone in Israel’s history and they were not to go back there.
Sometimes we think we can get from Egypt what only God can provide. In Proverbs 8 wisdom and foolishness are personified and are inviting the fools, the simple, and the naïve to follow them. Proverbs 8:11 says, “For wisdom is better than rubies.” In the Bible God often compares values to material wealth because in culture, time, and history people have always assumed that comfort is king and the way to that is material wealth. Sometimes we are so fixated on retirement or health, neither of which are bad, but they are not the most important kind of wisdom.
In Matthew 6 Jesus is not talking about wisdom, but about worrying about our physical life. He basically says, “Why are you worried about clothes? Consider the lilies and how they grow. They toil not neither do they spin.” If God will take care of a lily, God will certainly take care of His own. God will take care of you, yet Jesus says, “Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”
The wisdom and provision God has on offer is greater than anything the world has to give, yet we are so intimidated by or fixated on the so-called wisdom of the world that we don’t seek wisdom from the God who created the universe that He alone can give. Ask God today. You will only lack what your refuse. Everything you need for life and godliness is offered by God. If you will ask, God will give. That should encourage you regardless of your circumstances today.