Solomon alludes to the Garden of Eden when speaking of wisdom. He personifies wisdom and compares her to the Tree of Life. He promises that those who eat of the fruit of wisdom will be blessed (or those who hold her fast).

In the Garden, though, were two trees: in addition to the Tree of Life there was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Judging on the names alone, if you were seeking wisdom, is which tree would most likely eat?

The names of both trees are bursting with promise. To eat of the Tree of Life may have meant life eternal. And who could resist the promise of knowledge. Wait, evil? “Forget about it! It’s just superstition.”

Humans are curious creatures. So curious, in fact, that we tend to ignore danger. God, though, attached a warning to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. “On the day you eat of it, you will surely die.”

Today, we face a similar choice. Embrace the love of God and His knowledge and wisdom, and we shall receive life everlasting, or seek the knowledge and kinsmanship of evil and surely die alone and full of regrets. Of course, the temptation presented by the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil never seems evil. Yet, it is.

It is the temptation to seek self. It is the temptation to seek pleasure. It is the temptation to dismiss sin. It is the temptation to embrace the world.

One of the rules for Christian living is to be holy as God is holy. How do we do that? I know I fail daily to live up to God’s standards. So how, then?

We may only over come sin through the wisdom and understanding given to us through the Holy Spirit. That may only be accomplished through loving God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength.

How do you live holy? Trust in God.

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God appears to the young King Solomon and says, “Ask! What shall I give you?”

God is no magic genie that we should ask anything of Him, but, in this case, He does exactly that: He offers Solomon his heart’s desire. 

You and I could probably not be trusted with such a wish, but Solomon had learned well from watching the failures of his father. He does not ask for wealth, or power, or love. He knows that riches may lead to evil, and excessive power could lead to abuse. Lust leads to infidelity, and sometimes to death. Instead, he asks for wisdom. 

If we look back to 1 Chronicles 22:12, we read that David had prayed that God would grant Solomon wisdom and understanding. In chapter 1 of 2 Chronicles, God answers David’s prayer and grants great wisdom to King Solomon. 

Much of Solomon’s wisdom was eventually recorded in the Bible, in the book of Proverbs. One proverb that catches my attention is 15:29, which reads, 

The Lord is far from the wicked,

But He hears the prayer of the righteous.

– NKJV

I wonder what Solomon thinking when he wrote that proverb? Did he think of that prayer, the prayer of his father, asking God to give Solomon wisdom? Was David perhaps the righteous man Solomon thought of when sharing that piece of wisdom?

If you’ve stayed with me to this point, you may see a paradox here. In one paragraph I suggest that Solomon learned from his father’s failures, and in another I propose that David was the model for the righteous man praying. 

This is really no paradox. Both may be true. You see, there exists no truly righteous man but Jesus Christ. Not David, not Solomon, not Peter, not Paul; none are righteous. With a broken heart and true repentance, David sought forgiveness for his sins. By faith, he learned to trust in God, and by faith, through the sacrifice of the Son of God, he was found righteous in God’s sight. In the same way, you and I, through faith in Jesus Christ, can be counted righteous in God’s eyes. 

It took David most of his life to develop the faith necessary to live a holy life. I can relate. I’m not there yet, but I am finally headed that direction. 

By the way, James refers to Solomon’s proverb, and his thoughts contain sound advice for the Christian journey:

…confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

– James 5:16 NIV

FEAR NOT, for God hears the prayers of the righteous. 

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In 1 Chronicles 22, David turns over the construction of the temple to Solomon, his son, and tells him to have no fear. David has gathered the materials for its construction. He has received the plans for the temple from God. 

That’s the easy part, though. God, we learn, has denied David the opportunity to build the Holy Temple because David is a man of war. He is, in fact, too rebellious. 

Although David is later called a Man after God’s heart, he has spent most of his life following his own paths, walking wide-eyed into desperate situations, and remaining in dire straights until he hits rock bottom. Only when he hits rock bottom does he ever repent and fall on his face, asking God’s forgiveness. It is a circuitous pattern. 

By the time David commissions Solomon to construct of the temple, he had reigned over Israel for forty years. He was full of days and full of wisdom. He assures his son…

“Courage! Take charge! Don’t be timid; don’t hold back. Look at this—I’ve gone to a lot of trouble to stockpile materials for the sanctuary of God: a hundred thousand talents (3,775 tons) of gold, a million talents (37,750 tons) of silver, tons of bronze and iron—too much to weigh—and all this timber and stone. And you’re free to add more. And workers both plentiful and prepared: stonecutters, masons, carpenters, artisans in gold and silver, bronze and iron. You’re all set—get to work!” 

– 1 Chronicles 22:13-16 MSG

Back up a few verses, though, and one sees the foundation upon which David based that entire conversation. It is the same foundation upon which, by that time, he had learned to base his life. 

Verse 12 NKJV: Only may the Lord give you wisdom and understanding, and give you charge concerning Israel, that you may keep the law of the Lord your God. 

The Message makes the verse a little easier to understand. “And may God also give you discernment and understanding when he puts you in charge of Israel so that you will rule in reverent obedience under God’s Revelation.” 

Like David, I struggle to give God control of my life. Like him, I must sometimes hit rock bottom before I do. Like him, it has taken me forty years to begin to mature in my spiritual life. Readers, take this lesson to heart: surrender and study God’s Word. Seek the knowledge that builds godly wisdom. For only God’s wisdom protects you from the slavery of sin, and allows you to keep God’s Law. 

Fear Not, for God will give you wisdom and understanding and keep you free from the slavery of sin. 

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I admit it. I’m not very wise. Yet, I do take sweet comfort in the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. To think that He died and then defeated death and hell so that you and I could also conquer death and hell… I am dumbstruck. 

Try telling it to a hundred people, though, and you risk all one hundred finding you a fool. The Apostle Paul warned us, though. He told us that would happen. 

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”

Where are the wise? I submit to you that the wise are not in political parties, not in Congress, not on college campuses. The wise are teaching Sunday school, preaching the Gospel, and filling the altars. 

Wisdom is found in His Spirit, knowledge in His Word, and power in the cross. 

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