Wisdom and Discernment

I must say, I love a GOOD girls night. Like some of you may know, I am a youth leader at River Valley Church. I am so blessed by the young women God has placed in my life! I love just being able to pour into their lives.

Last night I had a few of them over for a sleep over, and it was a blast. We ate lots of food, played a couple games, and watched a movie. I conked out 5 minutes into the movie, but that is besides the point :)

Anyways, I wanted to take a few minutes to express what has been on my heart the last 24 hours. I have been in the process of reading through the Bible, and I read two chapters a day. One chapter from the Old Testament, and one chapter from the New Testament. Yesterday, as I was doing my reading, the chapter I read in the Old Testament really took my attention. Before I continue, I will be honest with you, reading through the Old Testament can be REALLY boring for me at times. But, for some reason, this chapter jumped out at me. It was 1 Kings 3, where Solomon asks the Lord for wisdom.

At this time, Solomon was just established as King, because his father, David, had died. Now, I'm just going to say this, I think that if I was crowned "King", I would feel as though I know everything there is to know. It would put me in a position where I felt as if I was above everyone, and didn't need to be told what to do. And even if I didn't know everything, I would make things up just because I had control. Okay, maybe I wouldn't be THAT bad, but, whatever... :)

Well, Solomon was just given the throne, and he really didn't know what to do. One night, the Lord came to Solomon in a dream and said to him, "Ask for whatever you want Me to give you." Now, I know that for me, I'd probably say, "Alright, God, well... I'd like a husband, a big house, a fancy car, and some spending money..." ;) but, what does Solomon ask for? In verses 7-9 he expresses to the Lord that he is just a child, and he does not know how to carry out his duties. He even refers to himself as a "servant", and asks the Lord to give "his servant" a discerning heart to distinguish between right and wrong to govern "this great people" of the Lord's, as he put it. Okay, let me break this down a little....

Solomon... now a KING... is calling HIMSELF... a SERVANT! HUMBLED by GOD... he is asking for WISDOM and DISCERNMENT... to LEAD! Umm... HELLO!

Well, the Lord liked what Solomon asked for, and he gave it to him. In chapters 16-28 there's a story of how the Lord gave Solomon wisdom in a certain situation. How amazing, huh? As we apply this to our lives, I think it's easy to get to a point where we believe we know what's best for our lives, and we don't need guidance from Him. We become stubborn, and selfish.

How often do we ask God, selfishly, for one thing after another? When maybe what we need is wisdom and discernment in our hearts. If we have those two things, then we can be in line with what the Lord has for us. Because no longer are we depending on ourselves (and our sinful nature) and others (although, I do believe God works through other believers around us to help guide us), but we will have the wisdom and discernment that HE has given us.

We were born to be leaders. In Jeremiah 1:5 the Lord tells us that before He formed us in the womb He knew us, before we were born He set us APART, and appointed us as prophets to the nations.

He gave Solomon the throne, and Solomon knew how important it was that he had wisdom and discernment from the Lord, because of the duties he had to carry out.

You ARE a leader. You ARE set apart. You ARE called to the nations.

To carry out our calling, that the Lord has for us, we need His wisdom and discernment.

I encourage you to take a few minutes to read 1 Kings 3, and apply it to your life.

Let's make Solomon's prayer, our prayer, too.

[Lex]

Yes. I fit in the pizza bag... I AM only 5ft tall. Give me a break... ;)