Try the latest Words of Life as Spotify Podcasts.

Tip: To see latest Words of Life, use Refine Search to list by Year. If using Mobile device, Refine Search may be located at end of page.

When King Solomon was inspired by the Spirit to write these words, he was certainly writing from experience – For he had found the way to acquire this wisdom and had been able to compare it with the then regarded precious things in life, and as we read, he came to the understanding that nothing in this world can compare with wisdom, and from that the understanding.

The wisdom that Solomon wrote about included all those various meanings of the word found in the dictionaries such as dexterity, skill, sensible, skilful to judge, counsel, insight and power to discern, but Solomon was placing it on a higher level, and was referring to it as a Divine or Godly Gift which can only come from the “Only Wise God”. We see, therefore, that it is God’s wisdom that can, given the right conditions to abide in man, show forth within us, to understand God’s way of doing things, not our own, which will make us happy and understand clearly what value it is to us.

How did Solomon acquire this knowledge? We read in 1 Kings Ch. 3 that when he became king the Lord appeared to him in a dream and asked him, “What shall I give thee?” Solomon confessed that he was as a little child, and knew not what to do, and he asked the Lord for one thing -“Give, therefore, thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people that I may discern between good and bad.” It is recorded that this request pleased God, and he answered, “Because that thou hast asked this thing and has not asked for thyself long life, neither hast asked riches for thyself nor has asked the life of thine enemies, but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgement; Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.” God also promised him that all of those earthly things he did not ask for would be granted to him.

As we read the story of Solomon we see that Kings and Queens came from everywhere, including the East Country, to witness the wisdom that God had given to him. That promise of God came to its conclusion when another group of wise men over 1000 years later, who travelled from the East to come and pay homage to a King that God had put on the earth – The King of Kings, Jesus Christ, who now was to bring greater wisdom to us all. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians Ch. 1 confirms this where he writes “But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness but unto them which are called, Christ the power of God and the “Wisdom of God. ”

For us, the same principles apply in our day. The first step to the wisdom of God is as found in Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” We see in God-fearing or acknowledging God’s Almighty power and confessing, as Solomon did, that we are but as little children, then it opens the way for prayer. We must acknowledge it is a gift of God as in Eph. 1:17, “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him”; and acknowledging this we must then pray for this gift as James writes in James 1:5, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” We see, therefore, every day we should pray for this wisdom; it is one of the gifts of the Spirit that is freely available to all. We will then be able to discern in the world the good and evil, to understand more fully God’s meaning of the words found in the Bible, to take into our hearts the Kingdom of God that is preached, to obtain the full peace of being reconciled again with God by the proclamation of forgiveness of sin, to understand the renewal of life within us by the partaking of Christ’s Body and Blood, and to look at the events of our daily life with God’s Wisdom and not our own – so will fulfil the inner happiness which will show in our outward lives of this great treasure which we have been given from God.

These words would not be complete unless we also are reminded of how Solomon ended his days, even after being granted so much wisdom. We find written in the Bible that Solomon “went not fully after the Lord” and allowed himself to be influenced by the outside world to turn that gift of God into idolatry. We must be ever aware that we never allow idol worship to enter in to anyone who has been given this gift of God “Wisdom.”

The gain for all from finding this wisdom is certainly much better than gold in our lives, as it will give us a peaceful life of understanding God’s Will, a peaceful life one with another, to understand one another, and an eternal peaceful life with our Lord. Let us all then begin, and continue every day to pray for this Gift of Wisdom.