Leaders need wisdom to make informed and judicious decisions.
We tend to think wisdom is something gained only through years of experience and to some extent this is true. If a leader pays attention and learns from successes and failures they will make better decisions based on experience and display a form of wisdom. But there is more to gaining wisdom than experience.
Read 1 Kings 3.
Solomon had just become king of Israel taking over from his father David. He had big shoes to fill and like it or not would be evaluated and judged by his first decisions.
A young man without experience being held to the standard of excellence of an experienced wise leader!
Only a man endowed with God’s wisdom from the first days of his reign would have the ability to succeed in this situation. A little background about Solomon is helpful and can be gained from a book he wrote that is included in the Bible called Proverbs.
Proverbs 4 says,
Proverbs 4 says,
“For I, too was once a son, tenderly loved by my mother as an only child, and the companion of my father (King David). He told me never to forget his words. ‘Learn to be wise,’ he said, ‘and develop good judgment and common sense! I cannot overemphasize this point.’ Cling to wisdom – she will protect you. Love her – she will guard you. Determination to be wise is the first step toward becoming wise!”
(Proverbs 4:3-7a TLB).
In the first verses of 1 Kings 3 we see Solomon’s zeal to please God.
The young king of Israel was extremely devoted to God in the early years of his reign. This devotion ignited a desire in him to seek God’s wisdom rather than power and fame.
He knew the situation he was in, following a great respected leader like David, and understood he could not wait for experiential wisdom; his only hope to lead the nation wisely was to be endowed by God’s wisdom early in his reign. Solomon’s request of God was the resource of wisdom.
By the end of 1 Kings 3 we see one of Solomon’s most dramatic decisions that displayed God had truly given him wisdom he had not earned through experience. Two women presented the king with what seemed an unresolvable dilemma: Each claimed to be the mother of the same child.
He knew the situation he was in, following a great respected leader like David, and understood he could not wait for experiential wisdom; his only hope to lead the nation wisely was to be endowed by God’s wisdom early in his reign. Solomon’s request of God was the resource of wisdom.
By the end of 1 Kings 3 we see one of Solomon’s most dramatic decisions that displayed God had truly given him wisdom he had not earned through experience. Two women presented the king with what seemed an unresolvable dilemma: Each claimed to be the mother of the same child.
With no real evidence to help him to identify the birth mother, Solomon was left to his wits.
And his shocking verdict (v. 24), along with the results (v. 27), revealed that he had truly been endowed with divine wisdom. And the result of those who heard about it:
“When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice” (v.28).
Effective Christian leaders seek wisdom from God even before they have wisdom gained from experience.
“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.”
James 1:5
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