A Listening Heart
1/7/26 Bible Thought (1 Kings 3)
The living God is the fount of all wisdom, knowledge, and truth.
A Look at 1 Kings 3
In today’s chapter, we see Solomon’s famous prayer for wisdom. God came to him in a dream and essentially gave him a blank check, “Ask what I shall give you” (1 Kings 3:5). To this, Solomon realized that he needed help.
He asked for an understanding mind, or what could also be translated as a “listening heart.” In the Chronicler’s account, Solomon asked for “wisdom and knowledge” (2 Chr. 1:10). What is the connection between these things?
The gist of Solomon’s request came from the fact that he felt severely under-equipped for the job.
Truly, Solomon probably had the worst case of imposter syndrome known to man. He inherited the kingdom by no merit of his own. He didn’t work his way up the ladder; he was suddenly granted the position at the top. Certainly, he recognized that his position was due to God’s gracious kindness and steadfast love (1 Kings 3:6-7).
So, what do you do when you are utterly clueless? You ask for help.
Solomon realized he needed wisdom in order to rightly govern the people of God. With this, we see that God is ultimately the source of all wisdom. For Solomon’s prayer in the Kings’ account is for an “understanding mind” or “listening heart.”
Essentially, the prayer was that God would show him what to do, and then that He would act wisely and do it. Hence Eugene Peterson rendered this phrase “a God-listening heart” (MSG). It began with listening, led to understanding, which culminated in acting wisely.
Bringing it Home
Solomon recognized that the task before him was too great. He wasn’t sufficient for the job—at least, not alone he wasn’t. The good news is that God doesn’t just call His people, but He also equips them.
The apostle James reminds us:
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind” (Jas. 1:5-6).
We might not be appointed by God to be leaders over a nation, but we all still have God-given tasks in this life. God has a reason for us to be here. With this, we must recognize that a God-given task requires God-given wisdom!
God has offered it to us.
We can go before Him in prayer and lean on Him. We can cast our anxieties on Him (1 Pet. 5:7), and ask Him for wisdom and help. Yet, we probably first run to Chat GPT or best practices instead. How might our lives look differently if we regularly prayed for God’s wisdom first when making decisions?
Challenge for Today: When I need wisdom or guidance, where do I typically go?
God has made such an awesome offer of wisdom to us in the book of James; let us be diligent to use it.