WISDOM – Being able to use the things that I know to make right decisions in my life. (Hearing and Doing)
SOLOMON
How would you like to be a king? It would be great to have people wait on you while you ordered them around, wouldn’t it? It would also be a big job. You would be responsible for the lives of many people. You would have many hard decisions and you would need to know exactly what to do.
​
This was the situation that Solomon found himself in. His father, King David, had died and now Solomon sat on the throne as the king of Israel. Solomon was a just a young man but now he had a lot of responsibility with many big decisions to make. What was he going to do? He really wanted to do the right thing.
One night God spoke to Solomon in a dream. He said, “Solomon, I want to give you one wish. What would you like?” What would you ask for? Here are a few things that students your age said they would wish for – A four-wheeler, a puppy, a bike. These things are nice, but they won’t last very long.
Solomon also could have asked for nice things like a long life, lots of money or fame. Instead, he asked for something that pleased God very much. Because Solomon knew that it was a hard job to be a king and he didn’t always know what to do, he asked God to give him wisdom to rule the people of Israel well.
God said, “Because you have made such a wonderful choice, I am giving you an understanding heart, one that will be wiser than anyone before and anyone else who will ever live after you. I am also going to give you both riches and fame and, if you obey my commandments, I will bless you with long life too.”
God gave Solomon the wisdom he asked for. Many people came to Solomon with hard problems and he had the wisdom to solve them all. He wrote over 3000 wise sayings called proverbs. He also wrote over 1000 songs. Kings and queens came from far away to seek his advice. He also studied many things like plants, trees and animals and wrote down what he learned about them.
From these studies Solomon observed that four creatures were very wise. He wrote about each of these creatures in the book of Proverbs that you can find in the Bible.
First, he said that ANTS are very wise. God made lots of ants, didn’t He? Have you ever seen an ant just sitting around? No, because they are always busy. God made ants very fast and very strong for their size. He also placed inside of them the desire to always work and prepare for the future.
We can be learn to be wise by following the example of the ants. God made us to work just like He made the ants to work. He also made us to serve others. It isn’t right for us to be lazy and not help around the house, at school or in our neighborhood. There are always jobs to be done.
Solomon then wrote that the ROCK BADGER was wise. While the rock badger doesn’t have sharp teeth or claws to fight with, he does know how to stay safe from his enemy, the eagle. When an eagle sees a rock badger on the ground, he goes into a steep dive to try to catch and eat the rock badger. The rock badger doesn’t try to fight the eagle. Instead, he uses his best defense and he dives quickly and deeply into his rock burrow (home). The eagle has no way of getting in there.
The rock badger shows us how we can act when Satan, our enemy, wants to “devour” us and keep us from doing what God wants us to do. Satan wants us to disobey Jesus and do the wrong things/give in to sin. The Bible calls Jesus our “rock” and our “fortress”. That means that when we are tempted to do the wrong thing, we can safely run to Him for protection and help by praying and believing that He will help us exactly like He promised. You can find those promises written down in the Bible.
Solomon also tells us that GRASSHOPPERS (also called locusts) are wise because they work together to get a big job done … like eating an entire field of crops. Believe it or not, we can learn an important lesson from the grasshoppers too.
If you have asked Jesus to forgive your sins, then you are called a Christian and are part of God’s family. God wants you to work with other Christians to get His work done here on earth. What is this work? It is working together to tell other people about Jesus so that they will know how to have their sins forgiven and know how to get to heaven. This is a big job but we can work together to get it done!
Finally Solomon wrote about the SPIDER. Solomon said that many people tried to come into his palace, but first they needed his permission to do so. Not so with the spider. The spider was not invited into the palace, but he still boldly went up into a corner of Solomon’s own throne room where he then worked hard weaving a web to catch flies.
We can be wise like the spider. We can boldly speak out for Jesus wherever we go. We can also work and witness right where we are. You may be too young to go to another country to be a missionary, but you can be a missionary right where you are now. You can tell others about Jesus in your school, neighborhood and family.
Would you like to be wise like the creatures Solomon talked about? If you do, you must first make sure that you have asked Jesus to be your Savior. You can do that by …
Admitting that you have sinned and done wrong things,
Believing that Jesus died on the cross to pay for your sins, and
Confessing/calling/asking Jesus to come into your life and forgive you of your sins
Then, you can be wise when you work hard like the ANTS …. trust in God as your strongest defense like the ROCK BADGER … work together with others like the GRASSHOPPERS … and be bold like the SPIDER.
Wisdom comes from God, who is all-wise. He always knows the right thing to do and He never makes a mistake. He will help you make right choices too! Will you ask God to make you wise in all your ways? The Bible says,
​
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. James 1:5
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom:
and the knowledge of the Holy is understanding. Proverbs 9:10
Notes: In James 1:5, the word “liberally” means generously;
and “unbraideth not” means not to rebuke for asking.
In Proverbs 9:10, the word “fear” means to honor and respect God;
it doesn’t mean to be afraid of Him.
​