11 Aug Aug. 16, 2026 1 Kings 3:3-14 “It’s Up to You!”
Aug. 16, 2026 1 Kings 3:3-14 “It’s Up to You!”
I think that one of the most unfortunate things about life is that we usually have to experience something in order to learn something. Sometimes this is good like when we experience a good new recipe for chocolate. That can only be good. Other times it’s not so good like when we decide we can make the next town to fill up on gas and we come up a mile short and its winter. A few years ago, we put on a revival meeting. It was a success and I’m proud of us for doing it. One of the biggest things that I experienced was that churches, for the most part, were not interested in this type of thing. Most churches in the area and this includes all the big ones in Fargo were not interested in something like this because they are too inwardly focused. It’s more important to run the programs of the church than to make new Christians. I was given many excuses why churches wouldn’t help from choir practice to we are just too busy doing nothing. All of them point inward and pastors lead the way in this. I was absolutely shocked when I learned this piece of wisdom. Revival meetings were just too far out of the box. We will have to address this if we do it again. Anyway, today we are going to again talk about wisdom this time from the book of 1 Kings. Let’s see if we can learn something from Solomon, the wisest king who has ever lived.
I have run across stories like this before and I just can’t help but chuckle. Here is another series of answers to the question, “What do you think wisdom is?” These are from children so beware. Rocky, age 9, said, “Wisdom is wearing a hat when feeding seagulls.” 9-year-old Carol commented, “Never ask for anything that costs more than $5 when your parents are doing taxes.” Nicholas, age 11, spoke from experience: “Never bug a pregnant mom.” Kelly, age 10, has learned the dinner drill: “Don’t ever be too full for dessert.” And, Heather, a seasoned teenager said, “When your dad is mad and asks you, ‘Do I look stupid?’ don’t answer him.” These are words of wisdom which leads to my question, “Why are we so wise when we are young but we seem to lose it over the years as we get older?”
Anyway, I would like to ask you a question before we begin today just to get our brains working a little. If you could ask God for anything, what would it be? Please be realistic. Don’t think about what Solomon asked. Think about what you need right at this very moment. I know it’s hard to do when we have learned the Solomon story so well. You might ask for health, riches, or good relationships. Or you just might be stuck on the right path and ask for wisdom. So, then the question becomes “Why do you ask for wisdom?” Let’s take a look at Solomon and see what makes him tick. Why did he ask for wisdom?
No one is really sure who wrote the books of 1 & 2 Kings, but one thing is for sure. They wanted the world to know just who these kings were. Starting with Solomon, each king is described as doing what was good in the eyes of the Lord or doing what was bad in the eyes of the Lord. Just think what would happen if we did that today for this country! Oh, Abe Lincoln did what was good in the eyes of the Lord but U.S. Grant did what was evil. By the way this is just a made-up example. Maybe that is what we are missing today. Someone should compare all our kings or presidents to Scripture and see how they do. Would we be like Israel who had all bad kings or would we be like Judah who had some good and some bad? Food for thought!
1 Kings starts with a little bit of David as he is handing over the kingdom to his son Solomon. There is no mention of Saul their 1st king. The Kings narrative pretty much starts with Solomon. We hear a lot about how these ancients always favored the oldest son for inheritance. Absalom was the oldest and he had already been killed which made Adonijah the oldest. King David had promised his wife Bathsheba that Solomon would succeed him as King even if he wasn’t the oldest. So, this is what David did because He was king and he could. It’s that simple. Kings could do whatever they wanted.
So now Solomon is king. Let’s see why this all-powerful man would make such a strange request. I say that it is strange because this isn’t what we would normally think of when we wish for anything that we want. I just asked you this question and if we didn’t know this story, I’m sure that some of our answers might be different. I might be wrong or not. Anyway, and this has some bearing on how you might have answered, one of the reasons that Solomon answered the way he did was because of his upbringing. He answered like this because of his father and mother and how they raised him.
We know that David gets all the press here because it was a patriarchal society. People were pretty much measured by their father and not the mother. Of course, this would eventually change. Also remember that David had many wives and concubines. I really cannot imagine such a system but they did this for centuries. As David ran the country, Bathsheba took care of Solomon. David was considered to be the greatest king that ever lived even though he had many flaws. He knew where to go when he was wrong. Somewhere along the line Solomon learned good things because he was considered to be a good king even if he did many things that were against the Lord. We know that he had some good upbringing by who he became.
Now let’s fast forward close to 3000 years. Many of us can look to our parents to see how we turned out. Actually, when you think about it, all of us can look to our parents for what they did or didn’t do in raising us. Many know exactly where to go to find out what is right and what is wrong. We go to the Bible and if we go anywhere else, beware! Always start in the Bible as John Wesley would say.
According to the Bible, the best way to raise children is with a father and a mother. Now before you get all upset with me, hear me out. That is the best way. The Bible tells us that and so do studies. However, we cannot always have the best way. Parents die, they divorce and sometimes there are other circumstances that get in the way of this. It is not up to us to sit and point fingers at whatever is wrong. It is up to us to try to deal with these problems the best we can.
It is up to us to try to communicate the truth to our younger people. When kids are raised outside the church, we should try to take them in and not tell each other how terrible they are. They are just kids who don’t know any better. When young people come to us with problems concerning living together, honesty, homosexuality, abortion, sorcery, and many other topics, try to help them. There are so many things that are wrong that our society condones. It is up to us to help these people get on the right track. Someone helped Solomon and he asked for the right thing. It is up to us to deal with situations as we try to teach the proper ways so our young people can make the right decisions.
For example, people come to me who want to get married who are living together. I think that it is pretty clear in the Bible that this is something that we are not supposed to do. However, we live in an immoral society where this is common place. Do you want me to marry these people or not? Of course, I’m going to marry them so that they don’t have to continue to live in sin. This is the only logical solution in my eyes. However, don’t you love it when there is always a ‘however?’ However, it’s my job to tell them that by living together they increase their chance of divorce from around 50% to almost 75%! By the way that 50% figure is for all America. When you have just a sample of born-again Christians who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, that number goes to way under 10%.
What I have found in the past is that when I talk about these hard topics, people disagree with me to the point of not talking to me or leaving or some other behavior to get back at me. People, don’t shoot me! I’m only the messenger. The Bible is right all the time. You can disagree with me all you want and I appreciate that but when you disagree with the Bible, then you are wrong.
Now we know that Solomon was raised right even if the circumstances were not up to our standards because Solomon wanted God’s will for Him. Solomon knew God. This is a very important part of the story of David and Solomon. These people knew God. Here is something that might have been happening because Solomon knew God. Solomon was a young man at this point. He had been raised as the rich son of the king. He was used to privileges. I think that Solomon started out being the king with little real knowledge of what being a king was all about. Suddenly he is the king and there is no father there to help him out. He therefore does what David would have done; he goes to God for advice. He is in over his head so he goes to God.
He already is probably the richest man in hundreds if not thousands of miles. He has everything that money and wealth can buy. Even with everything money can buy, he still doesn’t know how to rule. Therefore, when God told him he could have anything he wanted, he asks for wisdom. He does this because he knows God and he knows that God will help him out as He helped his father. Once again, we go back to being raised the right way in God or in our case in Jesus Christ.
Once again, let’s turn to our world. I’m here today to tell you that you can have anything you want in Christ. Now if you ask for money, God might say that you are already one of the richest people in the world. If you ask for health, He may say that He has already given that to you but you squandered it somehow. God doesn’t really care too much about these types of worldly things because He is from a different world. If you love Him and actually know Him, I beg you to ask for things like wisdom, discernment, joy, peace. These are the types of things that He is waiting to give all of us. You need only be honest in your walk with Him. Are you just paying God a little lip service or do you actually love Him with all your heart? Sometimes we do not get the answer we are looking for because we are not walking with Him. Think about that as you ask for love.
Now Solomon not only knew God but he also knew what God was in his life. He had been raised on God and He knew what God did. Today, we like to think that God is the great wish granter of our lives. We have talked about this many times because we live in a society that knows nothing about God. Nothing! God does not grant wishes so you can have an easier or better life. He will only do things that will further His kingdom.
Therefore, when you ask for your health, you should tie this in with how your better health will benefit the kingdom. If you ask for riches, how will this in turn further the kingdom of God? Do you see what I mean? Solomon knew these things so he asks for wisdom. He would try his best to better the kingdom with his wisdom but ultimately he would succumb to the world and become a big sinner. But he tried and did further God’s kingdom with his wisdom.
So, the things that can be important to your life are your families influence or the influence of certain Godly people in your life. Then you commit yourself to God’s will in all you do because you know God and what He will do in your life. It doesn’t matter at this point if you didn’t have a Godly upbringing. What matters is that you recognize the people God put in your path so you can have a better life, a Godly life.
There is the story of a blind, wise old man who lived next to a mountain. 3 little boys were always trying to see if they could out smart him. One put a marble in his hand and asked the wise man what he had in his hand and he said a “Marble.” Then they decided to put a baby bird in their hands. If he guessed what it was then they would ask if it was dead or alive. If he said it was alive, they would kill the bird and if he said it was dead, then it would be alive. So, they went to him and asked him what was in their hands. He told them a baby bird. Then they asked if it was dead or alive. The wise man told them that it was up to them if the bird was dead or alive.
This is the same way with you and wisdom. It is up to you if you have it or not. You can ask or not. You can overcome a bad family upbringing and be wise. It is all up to you. It’s just like if you are going to heaven or not. It is all up to you. You are in command. Unfortunately, we have such a decadent society that often times we think we make the right decision when it’s not. Therefore, we all need wisdom. Go to God in prayer and ask. Ask for the gifts that He loves to give. Jesus Christ loves you every minute of every day. Go to Him with all things and not just on Sunday morning. Thank you, Jesus, for first loving us. Let’s pray.
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