2 Chronicles 9:23
“And all the kings of the earth were seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart.”
This is quite flattering. However, if we know Solomon’s story, we know where his wisdom came from. The incident is recorded II Chronicles 1:7-10, ‘In that night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, “Ask what I shall give you.” And Solomon said to God, “You have dealt with my father David with great faithfulness, and have made me king in his place. Now, LORD God, Your promise to my father David is fulfilled, for You have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. Now give me wisdom and knowledge, so that I may go out and come in before this people, for who can rule this great people of Yours?” In reality, it isn’t flattering, but humbling. This wisdom isn’t from Solomon. He felt unequipped for the job.
This is an important lesson for the believer. On a much smaller scale the same thing has happened to us. I Corinthians 4:7 says, “For who makes you so superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?” That tells it all. We may be a mature believer and function in our gifts and feel great about all. That’s good. God wants us to feel good. But our beginning wasn’t as dramatic as Solomon’s, but we were once unequipped.
God will put us in situations that bring our humble beginnings back to our attention. That’s good. We need never forget the lesson of Corinthians, “What do we have that we didn’t receive?” That’s what it means to be “poor in spirit”. That’s the first beatitude (Matthew 5:3). The blessing is there when we know our true state. That we are nothing without God and we are everything with Him.
2 Corinthians 12:7-9 explains how the apostle Paul remained in his poor in spirit state, ‘Because of the extraordinary greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.’ This might give us some understanding of our situation. Some of our trials are present to keep us humble and dependent on God.
God wants us to walk with Him and be blessed and be a blessing. That’s it. In the process He will give us favor with those who we are to minister to. We will feel the blessing of Solomon. We’ll feel the respect. That’s great and be blessed in that. But it’s mainly because the Lord is using us in their lives. It’s not us, but Him through us. Don’t think more of ourselves than we ought to (Romans 12:3).
There will be those who don’t give us a second thought. That’s ok. God can’t use us with everyone. They are doing us a favor. Don’t waste energy on them. We can toss up a prayer for them and move on.
It’s a wonderful life. Walk with Him through it and be blessed. Thank You, Lord, for the favor You’ve given us. Help us to seize those moments and minister to those. Not thinking more of ourselves than we ought.