“And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.”
– 1 Kings 3:28
This summary of Solomon’s leadership, of his wisdom as judge, is so powerful. When you think about Solomon’s prayer in First Kings, that God give him wisdom, God said, “I’ll give you anything you ask,” and Solomon said, “Please give me wisdom.” And God was pleased with that prayer. God is pleased when we ask for wisdom. And let’s be honest, we need it. You need it. I need it. This is a no-brainer. Not one of us is as wise as God. Not one of us has his knowledge, his perspective, his experience, all the things that affect our wisdom.
We lack wisdom. May we constantly pray to God that we may walk in His wisdom.
This Verse Calls Us to Seek a Righteous Perspective
I mean, how many times do we make a decision and then we find out some new information later that would’ve affected that decision, and we say, “Oh, if I would’ve known that, I wouldn’t have made that decision,” because we lack knowledge, we lack wisdom, perspective? How many times do we do something, we don’t realize how it’s going to affect somebody else in this particular way, and we think, “Oh, If I’d have known that, I wouldn’t have done it”?
Our perspective is limited. And so is our experience. I mean, how often do we go through a situation, we make some decisions that later prove to be not wise, we learn form that, and the next time we’re in that decision, we think, “Okay, I’m going to make a different decision here because I’ve learned from experience”?
So we think about God then, he has all knowledge, he never says, “Well, I didn’t know that. If I would’ve known that, I would’ve done it differently.” He has all perspective. He sees things from total perspective. Every single person on the planet, not just every person on the planet now, but everything in all history, he sees all of it. And his experience is, well, infinite. He has infinite experience. So you put all this together, he has perfect knowledge, perfect perspective, perfect experience. His wisdom is perfect. So why would we not continually look to God and ask for wisdom, and believe?
1 Kings 3:28 Asks God for Wisdom
So James chapter one later says in verse three, “If you ask God for wisdom, he will give it to you generously, without finding fault to those who believe.” What a promise from the God who has all wisdom, who is infinitely wise, says to unwise men and women like you and me, people who lack knowledge, perspective, experience, lack a lot of things, we can look to the infinitely wise God at any moment and ask for wisdom, and he will give it.
It’s what Solomon does. He asks God for wisdom and God gives it. And the people are in awe, because the wisdom God had given him. “The wisdom of God was in him,” the language says there in 1 Kings 3:28, “to do justice.” So God, right now, we look to you, I look to you, those who are praying with me, God, we look to you and we say, “We lack wisdom.”
God, I just think of my own life, I lack wisdom in how to be the best husband you called me to be, the dad you called me to be for these children you’ve entrusted to me. God, I don’t know how best to parent them. Lord, I need your wisdom in every moment in shepherding each of their hearts. They’re so different.
This Verse Prays for God to Guide our Decisions
God, I look at the work you’ve entrusted to me as a pastor in the church. Oh, God, I don’t know how to shepherd your church. Lord, you’ve given your word that I want to follow, but, God, so many decisions that I make that are not clearly spelled out in your word. God, I need your wisdom and what to do.
And God, just in the world around me, God, I want to do justice. I want to do justice. God, I want to live with your wisdom. I want to lead with your wisdom. And so, I need your help. I’m asking, oh, God, for wisdom in marriage, in parenting, in your church, and the world around me, in my life. God, I need your wisdom. I am prone to foolishness.
1 Kings 3:28 Prays for Wisdom to Replace Pride
And God, I just pray this over others who are listening to this right now, I certainly don’t know everybody’s situation family-wise, work-wise, just life-wise, but God, I do know every single person that is praying right now, that is listening to my voice, as we pray, every single one of them needs wisdom. God, I pray that if they don’t see that, that you would open their eyes to it. You would open their eyes to their foolishness. God, that you would rid us of pride, that you would cause us to be humble, we pray. And that, God, you would hear our prayer right now for wisdom, for wisdom in our lives, for wisdom in our families, for wisdom in our work and the world around us, to do justice.
God, we pray for wisdom. Please, give us wisdom. God, please lead us by your wisdom. Please guide us by your wisdom. God, please cause your wisdom, just like 1 Kings 3:28, please cause your wisdom to be in us, to do justice, to live as wise men and women, children. God, help us to live wisely, to walk in wisdom, because of your generosity toward us. We trust you, as we ask for wisdom, we trust that you will give it. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
