1 Kings 4:29 – God gave Solomon wisdom and vry great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. 30 – Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the nen of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 – He was wiser than any other man, including Ethan the Ezrahite – wiser than Heman, Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his hane spread to all the surrounding nations. 32 – He spoke three thousand Proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. 33 – He described plant life, from cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. 34 – Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.
PROVERBS: Solomon “spoke three thousand Proverbs,” many of which are collected in this book. These wise sayings describe patterns that operate in everyday life, offering us advice on how to conduct ourselves in various situations. Solomon’s fundamental instruction is to fear and trust the Lord. As you read this book, remember that God has something to (and in) every aspect of your life; seek his wisdom in the decisions you must make each day.
Reflect: I need to slow down. And I’m asking the Lord to help me do it. I want to move slowly enough to be aware of all the joys he has hidden for me. I want to slow down enough to grow as he wants me to grow. I want to be quiet enough to hear his voice. I need his wisdom to jnow how to spend my time and how to order my days.
Growing in Wisdom: In Luke 2:52 we learn that “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” It is not difficult to understand how Jesus grew in stature – he just got taller! But how could the Son of God grow in wisdom? Did he not already have all wisdom? Did he lack anything? Was he not perfect? Yes he was filled with wisdom – as much wisdom as a child without life experience can have. It may help to remember that a few ounces of milk can fill an infant boy, but it would take a few quarts to fill a teenage boy. The difference is that the teenager has increased his capacity for milk. As, Jesus grew physically, he also grew in his capacity for wisdom as he learned from his experiences. What is our individual capacity for wisdom? Could we increase that capacity? Wisdom comes when we examine the experience God gives us and discern what we have (or should have) learned from them. Nothing that has happened to us should be wasted (Romans 8:28). Because it is something painful, often we do not take thevtime or effect to discover the reason for the “gift” of our personal experiences. When we do not learn as we should, we stop growing until we learn thipose same lessons through another experience tailor-made by God to make us mature (James 1:2-4). Most often we gain insight into our experiences only after earnest, persistent prayer. Psalm 43 is a wonderful model of persistent prayer; it opens up to us a person searching to know what God wants to reveal about a specific experience. Perhaps we should try writing out what we have learned about God, ourselves and life during and then after an important experience. As we learn these lessons, I think we’ll find that we will not need to learn them again in exactly the same way! This increases our individual capacity to learn greater lessons and gain deeper wisdom (Matthew 13:12).
The Wise Are Mature: The writer of the letter to the Hebrews was frustrated. He had many wonderful truths he wanted to impart, but his audience did not want to expend much energy on spiritual growth. They had been Christians for some time, but they knew little more than when they first believed. Tjosexwjo feed on and digest the meat of God’s Living Word attain maturity in their Christian lives. They gain the wisdom in speech and action that is tge mark of the mature. If we are not mature, the reason is obvious: we have not been workmen but idlers in Bible study. We have not made constant use of the Scriptures to distinguish good from evil. We are still dependent on others for our knowledge, as children are, in danger of being misguided by those who sound knowledgeable but may be as ignorant as we are. This is why there are so few wise people. Those who get all their knowledge of God’s Living Word from an hour or two on Sunday will never have a personal grasp of its content. Paul said that if we want to be wise, if we want to “correctly handle the Word of truth,” we must be workmen 2 Timothy 2:15). We must do the job ourselves instead of expecting a pastor or teacher to do it all for us. We must read the Bible. We must digest it, meditate on it, memorize it, and understand it. God does not want us to remain spiritually immature. He wants us to: (Ephesians 4:13-15) become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking thectruth in love, we will in all things grow. The Word of the Lord, thanks be to God, in Jesus name Amen.
Jesus Saved Mankind 