Godly Wisdom
1st King 3
(1982, California)
Larry's boyhood dream was to fly. he sat in his backyard watching jets fly overhead.
He hatched his weather balloon scheme while sitting outside in his "extremely comfortable" Sears lawnchair. He purchased 45 weather balloons from an Army-Navy surplus store, tied them to his tethered lawnchair dubbed the Inspiration I, and filled the 4' diameter balloons with helium. Then he strapped himself into his lawnchair with some sandwiches, Miller Lite, and a pellet gun. He figured he would pop a few of the many balloons when it was time to descend.
Larry's plan was to sever the anchor and lazily float up to a height of about 30 feet above his back yard, where he would enjoy a few hours of flight before coming back down. But things didn't work out quite as Larry planned.
When his friends cut the cord anchoring the lawnchair to his Jeep, he did not float lazily up to 30 feet. Instead, he streaked into the LA sky as if shot from a cannon, pulled by the lift of 42 helium balloons holding 33 cubic feet of helium each. He didn't level off at 100 feet, nor did he level off at 1000 feet. After climbing and climbing, he leveled off at 16,000 feet.
Eventually he gathered the nerve to shoot a few balloons, and slowly descended. The hanging tethers tangled and caught in a power line, blacking out a Long Beach neighborhood for 20 minutes. Larry climbed to safety, where he was arrested by waiting members of the LAPD. As he was led away in handcuffs, a reporter dispatched to cover the daring rescue asked him why he had done it. Larry replied nonchalantly, "A man can't just sit around."
Today I want to talk about wisdom because God knows we need it in these days where is so much of it lacking. Solomon was one of the most famous kings of the ancient world and he was known not only for his wealth but for his wisdom. We read how he received this wisdom in chapter 3 of 1st kings
Read chapter 3
What is wisdom? People I think today often confuse wisdom with education, or intelligence. There a lot of people today that think they are smarter than everybody else and they have no problem displaying their arrogance for all the world to see. One such article appeared recently in the midweek calling those who have faith and believe in creation or intelligent design ridiculous and that teaching it to their children was damaging them. He talks about the challenge of kids when they get to college. This person must not realize that there are literally hundreds of college educated scientist often holding several degrees that do believe in creation or intelligent design. This is always how it has been. Those who don’t want to believe in God think Christians are just not educated enough or as smart as they are so they occasionally go on a rant to try to prove to themselves that they know better.
This is what I have found over the years. There is a difference between education, intelligence and wisdom.
Education-just means you learned things. Some of it can be useful but some of it can be nonsense.
Intelligence-just means you have the ability to learn lots of things. Lots of useful things but lots of nonsense as well.
Wisdom- is the ability given by God to know the difference, to sort the good and useful stuff from all the nonsense. to perceive the true nature of a matter and implement the will of God in that matter, to apply it to life.” But it comes at a cost. That cost is your pride.
Lots of people fall into the 1st two categories but education and intelligence is no guarantee of wisdom. The only place true wisdom is found is in God.
Psalm 111:10 (NIV)
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
all who follow his precepts have good understanding.
To him belongs eternal praise.
So how do you get wisdom. Well we can learn from Solomon’s prayer. He positioned himself before the Lord in such a way as to receive not only wisdom but the blessing of the Lord in other areas of life as well.
1. Walk humbly
During the days when Mohammed Ali was a great boxer, he would go around in his arrogance and say that, "He was the greatest." Humility was never his strong suit. One day, back in his prime, he was on an airplane and the plane was ready to take off and the flight attendant had repeatedly told him to put on his seat belt. He finally told her, "I'm superman and superman don't need no seatbelt." The flight attendant didn't hesitate a minute but shot back with, "Superman don't need no airplane either, now buckle up."
Solomon was young and he was the ruler over Israel. He could have anything he wanted but he humbled himself and asked for the wisdom to lead God’s people.
Proverbs 3:34 (NIV)
34 He mocks proud mockers
but gives grace to the humble.
God is not impressed by people who are impressed with themselves. A bit of self confidence is necessary to function in life but it is easy to go overboard. It is usually those with too much confidence and pride that put themselves in a position to crash and burn. When you’re at work be smart but don’t act like the know it all, that’s irritating to most people, When your at home try your best to listen to your spouse, they just might have something important to say, when you with God in your quiet time let God know how much you need him in your daily decisions, ask for his wisdom.
James 1:5 (NIV)
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
I like that fact that God gives wisdom without finding fault. He’ll never make fun of you for asking a question. He isn’t up their in heaven going “hey Gabriel come over here listen to this prayer request, you gotta be kidding me….”
Humility is the gate through which wisdom arrives
2. Act justly-Solomon desired to be a just king something that is lacking in many leaders today. They are often more concerned about their agenda than doing justice. Just look for example a case recently where the ACLU tried to put two Christians in jail for praying in public.
Santa Rosa County, FL - Pace High School Principal Frank Lay and Athletic Director Robert Freeman of the Santa Rosa County School District in Florida had been held in contempt of an earlier ACLU/Santa Rosa County School District "Consent Order" which demanded that no Santa Rosa school employees attempt to influence anyone with their biblical faith or exercise their faith in public. Although the luncheon honored people who had donated to a school-associated athletic project, the defense claimed there were no students at the luncheon (the ACLU claimed there were); the two educators were on their own time and did not believe anyone in attendance objected to the meal blessing.
If our leaders really cared about justice they wouldn’t allow groups like the A.C.L.U to waste our tax dollars in courts by accepting cases that are deliberately used to persecute Christians. Our legal system is being used and abused by these anti-Christian groups. Our courts need to be available to try real cases and put thieves and murders behind bars not waste time supporting groups whose sole goal seems to be the intimidation of Christians.
As for us when we see injustice we need to speak up. Especially for those who can’t speak for themselves.
Proverbs 31:8 (NIV)
8 “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute.
Who are those not heard, who are those who can’t speak for themselves? The poor, the forgotten, the unborn child in the womb. The oppressed.
3. Love Mercy-Solomon’s concern was not for a comfy life even though he was quite comfortable, but to do right by his people. This should be the focus of every Christian. Solomon had a kingdom mindset rather than a self centered mind set.god is a God of mercy and grace and we need to exhibit that in our character. Part of being merciful is putting others 1st. Solomon, He put the kingdom 1st and as a result there was peace during his reign rather than wars. We too as Christians need to have a kingdom mindset. That is we put the kingdom of God 1st. That does not mean as many mistakenly believe that ministry comes before everything. Rather it means that your whole life is centered around the fact that you are a citizen of the kingdom of God before any other loyalties or alliances. That God is 1st than your spouse, than your family, than your job, than your calling or ministry. When your priorities are aligned in such a way it protects you from falling into the trap of the enemy. These priorities our outlined in Ephesians chapter 5. Too many Christians still have their eyes focused on what is perishing rather than what is eternal. One day the Lord will come and judge this world and all those temporary things that we trusted in will be Gone. In the end its just God and us.
How should we than live. The answer is given
Micah 6:8 (New International Version)
8 He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.