Devotional: Exchange Your Wisdom

Exchange Your Wisdom

Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and married one of his daughters. He brought her to live in the City of David until he could finish building his palace and the Temple of the Lord and the wall around the city. At that time the people of Israel sacrificed their offerings at local places of worship, for a temple honoring the name of the Lord had not yet been built. Solomon loved the Lord and followed all the decrees of his father, David, except that Solomon, too, offered sacrifices and burned incense at the local places of worship. The most important of these places of worship was at Gibeon, so the king went there and sacrificed 1,000 burnt offerings. That night the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!” Solomon replied, “You have shown great mercy to Your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You. And you have continued your faithful love to him today by giving him a son to sit on his throne. Now, O Lord my God, you have made me king instead of my father, David, but I am like a little child who doesn’t know his way around. And here I am in the midst of your own chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted! Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?”

The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked this thing. So God replied, “Because you have asked this thing and have not asked for a long life or wealth or the death of your enemies— I will give you what you asked for! I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no one else has had or ever will have! And I will also give you what you did not ask for—both riches and honor! No other king in all the world will be compared to you for the rest of your life! And if you follow me and obey my decrees and my commands as your father, David, did, I will give you a long life.” (1 Kings 3:1-14)

Is it righteous to ask God for wisdom and understanding? Most definitely. "Wisdom is the principle thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding" (Proverbs 4:7). Solomon's request of God is well-known, for God fulfilled His promise to Solomon and gave him both riches and honor in addition to the understanding heart he asked for. But let us take notice of one of the reasons why Solomon asked this of God: He saw God's favor upon his father David. Therefore, he asked for wisdom because he knew the rewards of walking with God "...in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart."

Choosing to do what is right in the face of opposition and persecution is hard. But God never promised it would be easy. He simply promised He would keep His word and be faithful to us if we would believe Him. The quest for wisdom (to know what to do when the vision is unclear) is the all-time greatest journey of mankind. If we had wisdom, we would not have regret, guilt, or condemnation. To possess wisdom would be the jackpot of all great discoveries!

“But do people know where to find wisdom? Where can they find understanding? No one knows where to find it, for it is not found among the living. ‘It is not here,’ says the ocean. ‘Nor is it here,’ says the sea. It cannot be bought with gold [and] it cannot be purchased with silver" (Job 28:12-15, New Living Translation). Wisdom is not available in the marketplace for a set price. It is, instead, the result of many scrapes and bruises; the getting up after falling down; the revelation of lessons obeyed and the regrets of ignored instruction. These are the price of wisdom.
And yet, God gives us another way to obtain such a prize...

“God alone understands the way to wisdom; He knows where it can be found, for He looks throughout the whole earth and sees everything under the heavens. He decided how hard the winds should blow and how much rain should fall. He made the laws for the rain and laid out a path for the lightning. Then He saw wisdom and evaluated it. He set it in place and examined it thoroughly. And this is what He says to all humanity: ‘The fear of the Lord is true wisdom; to forsake evil is real understanding’” (Job 28:23-28, New Living Translation).

The word fear is used to describe awe and reverence, not terror and dismay. "The fear (respect, awe, and reverence) of the Lord is true wisdom." It is the revelation knowledge that God exists and that He loves us. It is the broken and humble heart that acknowledges the need for salvation. It is the joy experienced when the Spirit of the Living God turns a stony heart into soft and pliable clay.

So in conclusion, wisdom is the leading to righteousness (through bumps, bruises, and utter realization we cannot do this alone) and then the partner gift of righteousness after salvation because now our heart has become His home, giving us direct access to Wisdom itself. So, "It is from Him that you have your life in Christ Jesus, Who God made to be our Wisdom [revealing to us a knowledge of the divine plan of salvation previously hidden, yet now manifesting itself as] our Righteousness [thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God]..." (1 Corinthians 1:30, Amplified). Therefore, it was our sin for His righteousness - an exchange. I guess that means if you [ex]change your wisdom... everything will change.