Kings 3:12
“behold, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has never been nor will ever be another like you.”
God gives Solomon wisdom. It’s what He does with His children. I’m not sure what he was like before the request. He felt too young and unequipped to be king. We have all felt unable to the task at hand. God likes us dependent on Him.
One of the beatitudes is “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God”, (Matthew 5:3). To be poor in spirit is to see ourselves as we really are. We need God.
Jesus said in John 15:5, “I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.” We were created to be in God. The fall put that out of alignment. Jesus’ sacrifice fixed that and allowed us the option to be in Him.
Let’s look at the phrase, “without me you can do nothing”. The spirit of it means what was mentioned, that we were created to be in alignment with God. Surely non Christians can do things. But to look at it from another angle, Jesus holds all things together. He allows our heart to beat. If it weren’t for Him, we truly couldn’t do anything.
Does this mean we shouldn’t have confidence in our abilities to do things? No. We should be confident. But not independent of Him. We are to pray that He is with us in our tasks and that He assists us.
To be self sufficient is prideful. There are many degrees of this. Some ignore God, others are defiant of Him. Satan seemed to be the one to introduce pride. It’s what caused his downfall. Pride is a sin. This is not the satisfaction we have in a job well done. But the pride that puts ourselves first. We are building our kingdom.
He wants us to be humble. This is having a proper view of ourselves. Like being poor in spirit. It’s being in a dependent state on God and seeking to build His kingdom. Jesus demonstrated this by choosing to be born to poor parents in a manger. He grew up in a area of low reputation, he wasn’t good looking, he wasn’t in the powerful, educated class and so on. That is astounding. He relates to the poor and unconnected.
Solomon was right to ask for wisdom. We are to do the same. He answers that prayer. Paul says in Philippians 4:13, “I have strength for all things in the One strengthening me.” He will equip us for the tasks He puts before us. We shouldn’t fear.
We might not know all parts of what’s ahead of us. We should do our best to prepare and prayerful proceed. We will get stuck. We pray, ask for help and continue. At the end of the day, we thank Him for the success given.
Lord, thank You for being available to us and assisting us. It’s such a wonderful experience to be in relationship with You. You are good.