Yes I still exist, its amazing, isn't it? Haha, anyway yeah, I finally got a summer job (albeit for only half the summer) lifeguarding at the Spring Valley YMCA. I enjoy it for the most part, and I am getting pretty good hours so far (32 last week and >22 this week) which is very good.
Anyway, outside of that, I went on vacation to Disney World with my dad sister and aunt about 3 weeks ago, which was fun. We also got to visit my Mummum and Poppop Neil which was nice.
The rest of my summer has mostly been spent just relaxing. Next friday I'm going down to spend the day with my AWESOME girlfriend, Natalie.
That's about as caught up about my life as you need to be. Now onto the meet of this post. I would like to focus on wisdom in this post.
Wisdom is always an interesting topic. Its very highly valued in the bible (mentioned numerous times in both testaments) and also (most of the time) by the world. Wisdom is also what cemented Solomon as one of the premier kings of the bible. In fact, he is likely the second most highly regarded king, second only to his father David (his wealth and power actually exceeded that of David). However, Solomon did not have to end up this way. He attained his notoriety in one specific incident detailed in 1 Kings (Chapter 3). One night Solomon went to a local place of worship (the most important one in Israel) and made a very large (1,000) burnt offering to the Lord. That night, as he lay sleeping, the Lord appeared to Solomon and asked him "What do you want? Ask and I will give it to you." Solomon could have asked for many things, such as long life, a prosperous reign, power, victory over his enemies, etc but he did not. Solomon was smart enough to know that with only one of those things he would likely not receive any of the others. So what did he do? He asked for wisdom. This is how it went.
7 “Now, O Lord my God, you have made me king instead of my father, David, but I am like a little child who doesn’t know his way around. 8 And here I am in the midst of your own chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted! 9 Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?”
10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom.11 So God replied, “Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people with justice and have not asked for a long life or wealth or the death of your enemies—12 I will give you what you asked for! I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no one else has had or ever will have! 13 And I will also give you what you did not ask for—riches and fame! No other king in all the world will be compared to you for the rest of your life! 14 And if you follow me and obey my decrees and my commands as your father, David, did, I will give you a long life.”
By asking for this one thing, Solomon also gained everything else he could have asked for. It is incredible what Solomon receives in addition to his wisdom (and partially because of it). Solomon became the premier king of Israel.
Despite how great all of that is I want to more closely examine Solomon's speech before asking for wisdom. More specifically what he viewed as his greatest problem. Solomon states that he is like a small child, basically saying that he feels lost and he is worried that he is not ready for ruling over such a numerous people. This is a legitimate concern that Solomon raises that must be addressed. Instead of taking the easy route and simply asking God to address his concern, he asks for something that will allow him to fix the issue alongside of God. God is extremely pleased and grants Solomon so much more than what he asked for.
After reading this about 3 days ago I was struck by something in this. Perhaps we should model our prayers and requests to god after Solomon's I thought to myself. Perhaps next time I needs God's help with something instead of asking him to fix it I should instead ask for his wisdom and guidance in resolving the problem myself.
I would like to challenge the two of you who read this to try this the next time you come before God with an issue. Instead of asking God to fix whatever issue you may have, ask him to give you the wisdom, guidance and strength to resolve the issue with his help. I will be.
Anyway, this was a really long post for a really short challenge, but I feel like if we attempt it, we might find that we are much closer to God and our problems resolve much faster (note that I am saying that God cannot resolve our problems).
Well, I hope this makes sense.
Until next time,
Godspeed
No comments:
Post a Comment