In today’s Old Testament lesson we heard the story that is referred to as The Wisdom of Solomon or Solomon’s Dream. In it, Solomon goes to the Holy Mountain, spends a day in prayer and sacrifice, and then that night he has a dream. God appears to him in the dream and says, Solomon, I will grant you one wish. Solomon says, thank you, God, for making my father David king before me, and thank you for making me king following my father, even though I am but a lad and do not know my way in and out of doors. This is a large and very challenging group of people to govern, and so I ask for one thing: wisdom. Some translations say a discerning mind, other say a discerning heart, but it is wisdom. God said, well done, you. Everyone else I have ever offered this to ask for either long life or great riches or success in battle. You asked instead for wisdom, and therefore you shall have wisdom. You’ll be the wisest king that has ever lived, and for all time wisdom will be governed and measured by your wisdom. And there the story stopped today.
I would like to pull the field of vision back and look before and after, and then mine for a lesson. It actually starts at the death of King David. This is the boy shepherd who killed Goliath and inherited the kingdom from his father in law. He is on his deathbed and names his son Solomon to inherit the throne. It was the notorious Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, along with Nathan the prophet who sort of engineered that to happen. Then David gives death bed instructions worthy of any Mafia Don in terms of deliciousness. Solomon then spends three years securing his throne, and then comes the dream that we heard today.
The dream ends not with “you’ll be known for all time for your wisdom,” but goes on to say that because you, Solomon, did not ask for those other things, you also are going to live a long time, you’re going to be rich as Midas, and you will be successful in battle.
Then there begins a series of three showings of the wisdom of Solomon. The first scene is when you have the two mothers squabbling over whose baby it is. One baby with two mothers--who is the real mother? And Solomon sorts that out. It is a wisdom of discernment and perception. Next, Solomon organizes the kingdom with regions and governors and commanders. It is the wisdom of administration. And third, he builds the temple and the palace. It is the wisdom of art and architecture and construction and trade. In each instance, I think it is a wisdom that is practical, not esoteric, and it is a wisdom of leadership.
I was bishop for seventeen years, and there were some challenges for me in those seventeen years. A lot particularly around administration and personnel. But I found when I took even a few moments when facing a difficult situation to ask God for the gift of wisdom, things went so much better. When I forgot to do that, things did not always work out as well.
As families, as churches, as communities, states, and nation, we are in an extremely traumatic position right now, certainly the greatest since World War II and maybe since World War II and the Great Depression combined. It is very stressful, and it is a time when we need wisdom. I would like all of us this week to take time, to take a deep breath, and pray for wisdom. For wisdom in the leadership of our families, in our churches, in our communities, in our state, and in our nation. Pray for wisdom, never forgetting that God loves you, God loves us more than we can ask or begin to imagine.
AMEN
