The Wisest Ask You’ll Ever Make
Well now, friend, come right through that gate and ease on into this rocker like you've been expected here all mornin’ long. Don't pay one lick of mind to the ol’ tom turkey gobbler that's been paradin’ up and down the fence line since sunup, puffed up like he's just been elected to somethin’ mighty important and fully intends to make a long speech about it. Just let those shoulders fall where they belong, pour yourself some of that cold, sweet lemonade, and git settled in because what we're about to be sittin’ with together is the kind of truth that'll rearrange everything you thought you already knew about how to pray.
Solomon was twenty years old. Friend, that's barely old enough to know which end of a lil’ jenny mule does the biting, and here came God Almighty stepping right into that boy's dream with the most staggering offer any young man ever received: "Ask! What shall I give you?" (1 Kings 3:5). Now, if that had been me, I'd have had a list ready faster than a sly lil’ ol’ fox squirrel scramblin’ up a hickory tree with a hawk fast on its tail. Better knees. A kitchen that cleans itself. Some kind of supernatural immunity to bad-hair days. But Solomon did somethin’ that made all of Heaven lean forward in its chair.
He told God the plain, unvarnished truth. "I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in" (1 Kings 3:7). Not one syllable about riches. Not one word about long life or sweet revenge on his enemies. Just a humble, honest, wide-open request for "an understanding heart" to lead God's people with justice and discernment (1 Kings 3:9). That kind of spiritual transparency is a whole lot rarer than a lil’ ol’ mud dauber that minds its own business.
And right there is where Proverbs 2:6 steps in and gives the whole story its heartbeat: "For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding." Not from a diploma on the wall. Not from a podcast with a million followers. From His mouth. From the very breath and Word of God Himself. Wisdom isn't something you cook up through enough strivin’ and self-improvement. It plum flows from the presence of God directly into the heart of anyone humble enough to stop performin’ and start to listenin’.
The Lord was so moved by Solomon's request that He gave the boy wisdom AND everything else the young king hadn't even thought to put on his list (1 Kings 3:12–13). James confirmed that this same God is still in that very same generous business: "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him" (James 1:5). No sighing. No impatience. Not the look a settin’ chicken hen gives when she's been lifted off her nest for the fourth time before noon. Just pure, unguarded grace, poured out freely toward anyone who comes askin’ in faith.
The psalmist adds one more beautiful log to this fire when he prays, "Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12). That ain’t no prayer about countin’ birthdays, friend. It's a prayer about wakin’ up to what truly matters before the days slip past you like a creek that has never once slowed down to ask permission.
Thomas Aquinas called the search for wisdom "most perfect, more sublime, more profitable, and more full of joy" than any other human pursuit. He was a brilliant man. But God had already settled that truth long before Solomon ever closed his eyes that night in Gibeon.
Father, here I am with nothing polished to offer, just an open heart and a real need. I'll confess that too many of my prayers have been about comfort when they should've been about wisdom, because my own understanding is about as reliable as a screen door on a submarine. Your Word tells me that wisdom flows from Your very mouth. So, speak, Lord. I am done talking long enough to listen. Give me a heart humble enough to ask for what I truly need and faithful enough to trust that You will give it. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Well, bless my boots and pass them biscuits over here, friend! Here’s the truth sittin’ at the very bottom of this whole beautiful story. Solomon didn't become the wisest man in all of history because he was born sharp as a cocklebur in tall grass. He became wise because he was willin’ to stand before the God of the universe as empty as a dried-up gourd on a winter vine and ask to be filled with somethin’ far better than anything he could produce on his own. Askin’ God for wisdom is the most faith-filled, soul-stretchin’ prayer a person can pray because it means layin’ down every opinion you've been white-knucklin’ and trustin’ that God's view of your life is clearer than yours will ever be on its very best day. That there ain’t no small thing. That’s everything.
Now, take that truth with you like a good lantern on a dark path, friend. And the next time life puts you at a crossroads where every road looks wrong and you can't tell which way is forward, remember that Solomon's greatest moment wasn't a battle won or a verdict handed down. It was the night he said "Lord, I don't know" to the One who does. That prayer is still workin’ today, and it'll work for you before sundown.
With joy,
Gwen
