Wisdom (Part 1): Week 2, Day 3

Welcome back to this Bible study!  Today we are going to APPLY the text of 1 Kings 3:16-28 to our lives.  This is where we take what the Lord has given us, and we live it out in our daily lives.  What can we gain from reading this passage about Solomon gaining, and then showing, his wisdom?  Before we get into the meaning of this text, take the time to re-read it for yourselves.

As this story starts, we are brought into a harsh reality of the times of Solomon.  Two women, two harlots, two prostitutes, living together in house.  There was no one else in the house with them, which tells us that they were unmarried.  They were each other's support system in this terrible life that they were living.  I'm sure before they both got pregnant, they were living together as roommates.  These women could have very well been best friends.  After all, if you have a choice as to who you would pick as a roommate, wouldn't you choose a friend?  Now, the Scripture does not go into this detail, so this is all speculation on my part.  Both of these prostitutes end up pregnant at the same time.  They go through the nine months of pregnancy together - the joys, the scary times, the unknown - they lived it as friends and roommates.

Now there are two babies, born just three days apart, living in this house with their mommas.  In an extremely tragic event, one of the mommas rolled over on her baby in the night, suffocated it, and killed it.  In her grief, pain, trauma, insanity...whatever emotions she was feeling at the time, she made a terrible decision to switch the babies and lie about the truth of the event.

Now think about the other momma.  She, too, was feeling very emotional, as all new mothers do.  She woke up to a dead baby beside her.  I can't imagine the pain, the grief, how upset she was to think that her baby had died.  But as she looked closer, she knew that this was not her baby.  She knew in her heart that her friend and roommate had committed a terrible act.

Enter King Solomon.  He was able to sum this story up in one short verse (verse 23). One momma says that the living baby is hers, the other momma says that the living baby belongs to her.  What is the King to do?  Last week we studied about how Solomon asked for wisdom from the Lord so that he could properly judge the kingdom.  This is how God is going to show the world how much wisdom he have to Solomon.

Solomon's judgement was to order that the living baby be cut in half.  One half was to go to one of the mommas, the other half to the other momma.  Can you imagine hearing King Solomon order this to happen?  I'm sure that the guards and others on duty at the time thought that Solomon had lost his mind.  Here was the King of Israel, God's chosen King of God's chosen people, and he is ordering the murder of an innocent baby.

But, of course, the killing of the baby didn't have to happen.  The true momma could not stand the fact that her baby was about to be killed.  She loved her baby so much that she was willing to give it up to the other momma just to save its life.  Solomon knew right away that that woman was the true momma of the baby.  The other woman was going to let the baby be killed.  Solomon, in all of his wisdom, was able to determine the true momma of that sweet innocent baby.

We are not told what happened to these two women after this event.  But, we do know that one of the mommas was able to take her baby home alive.

1 Kings 3:28 shows us how this one decision impacted the entire nation of Israel.  Everyone in the kingdom "feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice."  The kingdom knew that Solomon's wisdom came from God.  They knew that this was a king that they needed to respect and honor, because he had God's favor.

So how does this impact our lives?  We do not live in a time where we would ever have to make the kind of decision that Solomon made.  But what we do know from this chapter of 1 Kings is this: if we ask God for something, and that something is in His will, He will provide it for us.  His provision will be tens and hundreds of times more amazing than we could ever have imagined for ourselves.  Let's relate this directly back to wisdom, as that is our focus.  God has told us that He will give us wisdom, if we ask for it.  James 1:5 says, "But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him."

God wants us to have wisdom, and oh my sisters, do we ever need it!  I have told you before, I pray for wisdom and discernment every single time I open my Bible.  I know that God gives it to me, because there are times when I struggle understanding His Word.  I have read passages of Scripture that I just do not understand at all.  But with the help of the Lord, He gives me the understanding that He wants me to have at the time.  The cool thing about studying the Word of God is that it is truly living and breathing, and I gain new meaning and new understanding every time I study.  I would not be able to do this without the wisdom and help of God.

Pray, sisters, for the wisdom of God.  Pray for wisdom as you open His Word to study and learn.  Pray for wisdom as you make small, daily decisions.  Pray for wisdom as you make large, monumental decisions for your life and the lives of others in your family.  Pray for wisdom as you encounter different people every day.  Pray for wisdom.  God will give it to you!

To read the previous posts on Wisdom, click these links:

Week 1: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 2: Day 1, Day 2