WHOLE LIFE WISDOM
Opening Prayer
I thank You, God, that You care about each tiny detail of my life. Thank You that nothing is too small for Your notice.
Read 1 Kings 4:29–34
Solomon’s Wisdom
29 God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. 30 Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 He was wiser than anyone else, including Ethan the Ezrahite—wiser than Heman, Kalkol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. 32 He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. 33 He spoke about plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also spoke about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. 34 From all nations people came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
When you pray, do you restrict prayers to “the religious bits,” assuming that God is not interested in the mundane details of life?After a dry (to us) list of Solomon’s key officials (1–19) and Israel’s agricultural and military resources (20–28), the writer gives us this thumbnail sketch of the king himself. But these paragraphs do fit together; God is concerned with it all.
This can read at first like an example of good old hero-worship, but the point is to show what happens when God’s king lives out God’s wisdom.
Solomon’s reputation for wisdom exceeds all others’ of the time (29–31). Even if there is some loyal exaggeration here, the important point is that “his fame spread to all the surrounding nations.” It is the king’s wisdom which has brought all the details of verses 1–28 together. He shares the fruits of his wisdom in written and sung form—which only serves to extend his reputation still further (32). Many of these, of course, ended up in the book of Proverbs.
Unexpectedly, divine wisdom even embraces natural history (33). But that stands to reason if God has made everything, and wisdom is a matter of living in his world his way. There is nothing in all the world that is beyond God’s interest or concern.
Apply
List all the mundane details of your day. Are there any that you have viewed as too “insignificant” to bring to God? Lift them up to God today.
Closing prayer
Pray through each commitment you have in the coming week. Pray for God’s wisdom so that you can serve his kingdom.
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