God asked Solomon in a dream:
Ask what I shall give thee. (I Kings 3:5)
Solomon said: I Kings 3:6-9
Thou hast shewed unto THY servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before THEE in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with THEE; and THOU hast kept for him this great kindness, that THOU hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.
Thou hast shewed unto THY servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before THEE in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with THEE; and THOU hast kept for him this great kindness, that THOU hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.
7 And now, O Lord my God, THOU hast made THY servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.
8 And THY servant is in the midst of THY people which THOU hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.
9 Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge THY people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this THY so great a people?
10 And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.
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And God said to Solomon:
I Kings 3:12-13 Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.
And Solomon wrote 3,000 proverbs of wisdom from God. (I Kings 4:32)
13 And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.
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Excerpts from the Proverbs of Solomon
Proverbs 1:
To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
- wisdom: ability to soundly act in a given situation
- justice: administration of just behavior or treatment
- judgment: ability to come to sensible conclusions
- equity: administering fair and impartial treatment
To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
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1/7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
When we understand that God knows what is best for us and we fully follow that Word from God based on that understanding, then we have a fear of the Lord.
It is a fear of the Lord, for knowing that God is always right, to choose something opposite from that word HE gives us is suicidal to us.
We are really afraid to do opposite to that which God tells us.
An example: When I owned my business in 1975, a woman took me to trial. I heard what I was certain was instruction from God, "Don't testify." I told my lawyer and he said we could still win the case with the woman's testimony who witnessed the situation. She was one of my workers.
When Flo learned I was not testifying, she became very angry with me: She said, "Now that you're not going to testify, all the burden is on me!"
I replied: "What can I do? God told me not to testify. I can't testify."
The man I was dating said: "Joan ... you're not doing this girl any favor by not testifying."
I replied: "I'm not trying to do her any favors. God told me not to testify. I can't testify."
At the court trial, when the judge heard that I was not going to testify, he put the pencil down with which he had been writing. He looked directly at me in a questioning way and asked, "You're not testifying?"
"No," I replied.
On the second day of the trial, my lawyer came to me and told me Flo's testimony was not as strong as he would have liked, but if I would testify he knew we would win.
I told him I would see.
I went into the ladies room at the court house. I asked God what HE wanted me to do. I heard, "Don't testify."
I walked back into the courtroom. My lawyer looked directly at me. I shook my head No.
A day later the trial ended.
I won the case.
When everyone on your own side is against you, and you still do that which you believe God told you to do, you have a fear of the Lord.
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Psalm 111:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do HIS commandments: HIS praise endureth for ever.
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1/10 My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
In the midst of their "enticement", you can pray, asking God to help you to escape this temptation.
I Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
God will bring a thought to your mind showing you how you can escape. Or God will give you a dream showing you what to do.
God gave me a dream showing me I could not go through my cousin's house.
After my mother died, my cousin wanted me to move to the city where she and her husband and her two adult aged sons lived. She said: "The boys will be such a help to us."
But I didn't entertain her idea at all because God had given me a dream showing me I could not go through her house.
If we want to escape the temptation, God will make a way for us to escape the temptation.
Many times we don't want to escape, so we don't ask God how to escape that. Then we suffer because we did not ask God for HIS wisdom.
James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
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1/24-32 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all MY counsel, and would none of MY reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon ME, but I will not answer; they shall seek ME early, but they shall not find ME: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: They would none of MY counsel: they despised all MY reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
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1/33 But whoso hearkeneth unto ME shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
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Proverbs 2:
2/3-5 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.
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2/6 For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of HIS mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
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2/7-9 HE layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: HE is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
HE keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of HIS saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.
HE keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of HIS saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.
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2/10-19 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:
Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:
To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.
Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.
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2/20-2 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
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2/22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.
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Proverbs 3:
3/13-15 Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.
3/5-6 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge HIM, and HE shall direct thy paths.
acknowledge HIM: pray asking God what you should do
3/7-8 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.
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Jesus said:
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
Learn the value of wisdom from that which the proverbs and Jesus says.
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3/21-26 My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion: So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck. Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble. When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.
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3/31-35 Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways. For the froward is abomination to the Lord: but his secret is with the righteous. The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked: but HE blesseth the habitation of the just. Surely HE scorneth the scorners: but HE giveth grace unto the lowly. The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.
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Proverbs 4:
4/5-8 Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of MY mouth.
Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.
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Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.
14 Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.
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4/18 But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
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4/19 The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.
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4/20-27 My son, attend to MY words; incline thine ear unto MY sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
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23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
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4/24 Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.
froward: stubbornly unruly
perverse: turned away from that which is right and good
4/25 Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
4/26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
Let God firmly persuade you.
4/27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.
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Proverbs 5:
5/1-15 My son, attend unto MY wisdom, and bow thine ear to MY understanding: That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of MY mouth. Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel: Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger; And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
Jesus says:
Matthew 5:32 Whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
- The man who divorces a faithful wife will be the cause of her adultery when she remarries.
- The divorced woman, the faithful wife, will commit adultery when she remarries.
- The man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
I Corinthians 7:10-11 And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.
Mark 10:6-9 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
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5/15 Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
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And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and HE pondereth all his goings. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
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These are excerpts from Proverbs 1-5. When we meditate on these verses, we come to have a strong desire for God's wisdom and a great appreciation for that which God tells us in HIS Word to us.
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