humility --> worship --> wisdom --> blessing

Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?
1 Kings 3:9

This was Solomon's moment of really extraordinary spiritual perception. God came to him very early in the initial days of his kingship after Solomon had spent a day celebrating, worshipping, and sacrificing to God. The Lord offered to Solomon anything that he asked of Him. But lest we think that God was offering to be Solomon's personal genie in the lamp, remember, God was testing the character of the young king. Solomon pleased the Lord greatly with his request.

The young king asked God to supply him with the kind of wise mind that would be beyond his years. He wanted to understand just how to govern God's people. Notice that in his request, Solomon never asks to exalt himself or even lays claim to being "over" the nation. Israel is God's people and Solomon mentions that twice in his request. Solomon needs wisdom from God in order to effectively govern God's great people. It was this controlling humility that opened a window into Solomon's heart. God was very pleased with what He saw there. In fact, the reason God answered this request was that it came out of worship and not self-motivation.

Solomon's primary concern was over the moral leadership of the nation. He wanted understanding so that he could discern between good and evil. That was an insight few leaders think of today. It is all about profit or success or growth at all costs. Seldom does leadership make its mark by the outstanding example of moral uprightness. That is sad, really. God would bless Solomon, even in later days of dubious morality, because in these beginning days he was consumed with really doing what pleased God as Israel's king.

So there is a lot to understand here. Foremost is that humility in worship helps us see God as He is and ourselves as we are. It was humble worship that led Solomon to ask for the right thing that pleased God. That worship led to wisdom. And God went over and above Solomon's original request. Because he had asked so well for what was so right, God also blessed him with great success and wealth. So humility led to worship. Worship led to wisdom. Wisdom led to blessing. That is a chain of events worth noting and hoping for in my own life.

- Posted on an original iPad.
prepare your minds for action...
1 Peter 1:13