God's Wisdom
To live in God's will, we should ask God
for divine wisdom.
Here now is Gene:
In some respects, it's ironic that Solomon,
in spite of all of his failures, is in some respects
the greatest example of humility in
asking God for wisdom rather than
riches and honor.
That's somewhat of an ironic situation
but it's true.
God honored him because of his humility.
God honored him because of his wisdom.
God honored him because he was
asking God to give him wisdom
in order to rule people according
to the will of God.
And God answered that prayer when
he asked for that wisdom.
And notice what we read in
1st Kings chapter 4, verse 29.
Jumping ahead, really, in the passage:
God gave Solomon wisdom, very great insight,
and understanding as vast as the sand
on the seashore.
God gave him that because of his humility.
And because he wanted to live in the
will of God when he asked that.
Unfortunately, he departed from the
will of God.
But we still see God honoring that humility.
Now it's interesting that prior to that statement,
1st Kings sets the stage by telling a story.
And Jeremiah, probably recorded this.
We don't know exactly who wrote
1st Kings but some think it was Jeremiah.
And it's really a story that's very familiar.
It involves a couple of prostitutes.
And these two women had babies.
You remember the story.
And as they were sleeping one night,
one of these women rolled over
and killed her child.
You know, smothered her child.
And while the other woman was sleeping,
she took and replaced those babies.
So she had the live baby that belonged
to the other woman.
And when they awakened, of course,
the woman who had been taken advantage of,
and had been manipulated,
knew in reality that this happened.
And so they go before the king.
And the one woman denied that this
had happened.
She said: No, this is my child.
And Solomon asked for his sword.
And this is--I guess you have to understand
the culture to understand this whole story.
But it was a very meaningful thing
that Solomon did.
He asked for a sword and
he was going to cut the child in half.
And give one half to the woman and
another half to the other to resolve this conflict.
Well Solomon knew with his wisdom
what would happen.
The true mother would emerge and
not allow her child to be killed in that way.
She was willing to give up that child to
save the child's life.
And then we read, at the end of that story:
The king responded, Give the living
baby to the first woman, and don't kill him.
She is his mother. ...
Now that was great wisdom at that
moment in history. And we read that:
...All Israel heard about the judgment
the king had given, and they stood in awe
of the king because they saw that
God's wisdom was in him to carry out justice.
And it's interesting, isn't it, that the Holy Spirit
gives us this story
as an illustration of the kind of wisdom
that God gave King Solomon.
So God did indeed bless Solomon and
did respond to his willingness to have
wisdom rather than wealth and honor.
Now let's think in terms of how seeking
God's wisdom relates to us today.
And to do that, I want to take you
to James chapter 1, verse 5.
Because there's continuity here.
There's continuity between the
Old Testament and the New Testament.
In many instances, there is not continuity.
We've looked at that.
For example, there is not continuity in terms of
material blessings like were promised
to the children of Israel.
Does not repeat it.
But something that is repeated is that
we can ask God for wisdom.
And we see that in James.
Now if any of you lacks wisdom,
he should ask God, who gives to all
generously and without criticizing,
and it will be given to him. ...
But then James gives us a qualification for that:
...But let him ask in faith without doubting.
For the doubter is like the surging sea,
driven and tossed by the wind.
That person should not expect to
receive anything from the Lord.
An indecisive man is unstable in all his ways.
In other words, what he's simply saying
is that if you really want wisdom from the Lord,
you can't have one foot in the world
and another foot as if you're following God.
And expect God to be available to us to
give us wisdom.
We need to be living for the Lord.
We need to be living in the will of God
in order for Him to respond to our
request for wisdom.
That's a very important concept that
comes over from the Old into the New Testament.
And we see that in Paul's prayer for the Colossians.
This is a great promise here as well.
In Colossians 1:9 and 10:
For this reason also, since the day we heard this...
That is of their faith. And their hope.
And their love in following Christ.
Paul said--and he's in prison when he
prayed this. He said:
...we haven't stopped praying for you.
We are asking that you may be filled with the
knowledge of His will in all wisdom...
Now I want you to notice in this passage:
...that you will be filled with the
knowledge of His will in all wisdom
and spiritual understanding...
And here's to be the result of that wisdom:
...so that you may walk worthy of the Lord,
fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in
every good work and growing in the
knowledge of God.
Now what I want you to notice here is that
we have a great advantage over Solomon.
We have a great advantage over the
prophets in the Old Testament
and the children of Israel.
We have a great advantage over--
even over the apostles.
An advantage even over the
New Testament church.
Why? Because we have God's wisdom
revealed in the Scriptures.
We have God's wisdom.
What is the Scriptures?
It's God's wisdom.
And today we can pray for
understanding to understand the
wisdom that He's already given us.
That's something Solomon didn't have.
That's something King David didn't have.
That's something that even Paul didn't have:
is all of the wisdom that we have
in the Word of God.
And so this, you see, leads to a very
important Reflection and Response question:
How are Scripture, prayer, and faith
involved in receiving God's wisdom?
For us today.
Well first of all, we have the complete revelation.
As I said, from Genesis to Revelation.
We have the story of the old covenant.
We have the story of the new covenant.
Ending with the book of Revelation.
And so we have the complete revelation
of God here in written form.
So that's a great advantage as I've said.
And that's how we can relate to Scripture.
But we also have an other blessing
and that is: We can pray in God's will in a way
that people that didn't have the
Scriptures as we do--
how they could not. Because they
didn't have the totality of the wisdom of God.
And so when we look at the Word of God
from Genesis to Revelation,
we have the will of God unfolded for us.
And so we can pray in His will,
knowing what His will is.
We can ask according to His will because God has
given us the totality of His written revelation.
And the other advantage that we have
in relationship to this question is faith.
We can exercise faith based on God's will.
When we know what God's will is,
as we do from the Holy Scriptures.
In many aspects of our life,
we can actually pray in faith if it's the
will of God to give us what we're asking for.
And when we know what is in the will of God,
we can pray in the will of God,
expecting God to answer according to His promises.
That's a great, great advantage.
You know, one of the interesting things
is that in Scripture, really in the New Testament,
God never tells us that it's always
His will that we have good health.
God didn't promise that.
By the way, there's a simple logical observation:
That if God never wanted us to be ill,
we'd never die.
So when do you take that promise that people say
you have: That if it's God's will never to be ill,
where do you draw the line
when you're dying from old age?
When the body is shutting down.
So that's an illogical interpretation right there
in understanding.
So God never promises us that we'll
always be well.
But God does say: We are to pray in the
will of God for healing
that is in His will.
And so when I pray for the sick.
When I pray even from my own health.
I say: Lord, if it's your will.
And I don't know what the will of God is,
in some respects,
as far as bodily health is concerned.
But I can pray.
And I can pray with faith: If it's your will Lord,
grant me this blessing of health.
And I can pray for other people in the same way.
But you know there's something where
I have New Testament confidence
that I never pray: Lord, if it's your will.
I hope that got your attention.
When I'm praying for the sick,
there is something I pray for
and I don't say: Lord, if it's your will.
I say Lord give this person grace to
endure this affliction, whatever Your will is.
And I don't have to pray: If it's Your will.
Because the Scriptures are very clear that God
wants us to have grace under all circumstances.
God has revealed that.
He revealed that to Paul when he said:
My grace is sufficient for you.
Even when Paul prayed that this
thorn in the flesh--
and we don't know what that thorn was.
It could have been a physical problem.
Some believe it was blindness or his eyesight.
And there's evidence for that.
Some believe it was an emotional issue.
That it might have even been depression
or even doubt that he was struggling spiritually.
Or that it was a temptation that God gave him.
And of course, God gave him that thorn
to keep him humble.
And three times Paul prayed.
He said: I prayed three times, Lord
remove this thorn.
And what did God say to Paul?
No. But Paul, My grace is sufficient.
So we can always pray for grace,
no matter what our circumstance,
no matter what our situation.
So let me just repeat the Principle.
To live in God's will, we should ask God
for divine wisdom.
And as I said, that divine wisdom relates
back to a whole body of divine wisdom
that we have in the Scriptures.
And we can ask the Lord to give us
wisdom to understand His wisdom.
We can ask the Lord through His Spirit
to help us understand and apply the Word of God.