Day 157 – Solomon & His Prayer

• There are great passages today, and you might have possibly known them before you read them. If so, I hope you enjoyed re-acquainting yourself with them, and if not, I hope you enjoyed discovering another section of God’s awesome Word!
• Imagine you were Solomon at the start of today’s passages. He’ll be thinking about his dad and how good he was as a king, and how much he was loved. That’s a pretty tough act to follow, huh! Solomon had already shown his ruthless side, as we discovered in yesterday’s passages. Could we see a different side of his kingly attributes today?
• Did you notice that Solomon marries the daughter of the Egyptian king, as described in 1 Kings 3:1? Was this something he should have done? We’ll find out in a few days that this becomes quite a problem.
• You probably know that Solomon was one of the wisest men to ever live (nobody beats Jesus!). Did you know that this was because he asked God for wisdom? He could have asked for anything, but he chose wisdom. Why did Solomon choose this? What was God’s reaction to Solomon’s choice, as we read in 1 Kings 3:10-14?
• What conditions did God place on his blessing to Solomon?
• The story of the two prostitutes gives an example of Solomon’s wisdom. What happens in this story? Read it twice if you need to. Do you think Solomon genuinely intended to have the baby cut in two?
• What’s the connection between the story in 1 Kings 3 and the passage in Matthew 7?
• What does Matthew 7:7-11 teach us about God? What “good gifts” has God given mankind, and specifically to you? Do you think God owes us gifts, in a practical sense of the word, and should we expect them?
• We’re called to “ask, seek and knock”. That should form part of our prayer life. Have you ever prayed for something and got it? Did you thank God? Have you ever prayed for something and didn’t get it? Have you the patience to wait (or perhaps an understanding now of why God might not have given it to you)?

Solomon is starting out his kingly reign reasonably well, despite the fact that the Bible records some of his more questionable decisions too.

Asking for wisdom shows that Solomon understood the difficult job of being a king, but also being under God’s rule. It was a good choice to ask God for. Do you know what wisdom actually is though? It’s not the same as intelligence. Charles Spurgeon, a very influential British preacher, defined wisdom as “the right use of knowledge”. Wikipedia calls it “the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense, and insight”.

To that I would add an understanding of who God is, in relation to all human understanding and achievement. Wisdom for you guys will start out with making sensible choices in your every day life, and will progress to living out your life in a Christian way; knowing, for example, the wisdom of choosing who you might date in the future. Christian wisdom puts Christ at the centre of all decisions.

We’ll find out how Solomon uses his wisdom next week by digging into some of the wisdom books, and find out if Solomon remains focused on God.