Devotionals
THE WISEST FOOL OF ALL
How could the smartest guy in all of recorded history be so stupid?
In I Kings 3, Solomon has a choice. The Lord offers to give him anything he wants. Solomon asks for a discerning heart to govern God’s people. The Lord is pleased with Solomon’s answer and gives him not only wisdom, but wealth, long life, and victory over his enemies. The only thing God asks for in return is for Solomon to be faithful and obedient to the covenant God made with his father, David.
Solomon becomes known as the wisest man in the world. In I Kings 10, the Queen of Sheba travels a long way to pay him a visit to see if all she’s heard is true. She challenges him with hard questions which he answers without problem. In verses 6 – 9, the Queen proclaims:
The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard. How happy your men must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! Praise be to the LORD your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the LORD's eternal love for Israel, he has made you king, to maintain justice and righteousness.
He was wise. He was rich beyond all mortal imagination. Everything Solomon endeavored to do was successful. Being obedient in the midst of such overwhelming blessing should be a no-brainer. Think again.
It seems wise King Solomon had a weakness: women. Solomon had 700 wives of royal birth and over 300 concubines. Problem is, a lot of these women were from nations with whom God had specifically forbidden Israelites to marry. He warned Israel that these people would lead them astray to worship other gods, which is exactly what Solomon did.
Solomon worshipped nearly all the gods of his wives. He built high places, offered sacrifices. Perhaps he thought it wise to hedge his bets… just in case. God, however, was not impressed. In I Kings 11:11-13, God speaks to Solomon:
Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.
How can a wise man be such a fool? Maybe Solomon started believing his own press. Perhaps he forgot that his wisdom was not his own but a gift from God himself. Whatever it was, it’s a sober reminder for all of us.
When things are going well in our lives, it’s all too easy to take all the credit for ourselves. How easily we forget the provision of God and start believing that our prosperity is due to our own wisdom. We get into relationships with the wrong people and become involved in things that God expressly tells us not to do. We replace true worship of God with the pseudo-spirituality fad of the day in an effort to be more “open-minded”. We’re definitely not as smart as we think we are.
Jesus tells us that God chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. Apparently, that’s not as hard as it sounds.
© Sandra Perry 2005
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Very well written piece. And so thought provoking!
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