1 Kings 3:15-21: a reflection

15Solomon awoke; and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the LORD’s covenant, and offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants. 16Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king, and stood before him. 17The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house. I delivered a child with her in the house. 18The third day after I delivered, this woman delivered also. We were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, just us two in the house. 19This woman’s child died in the night, because she lay on it. 20She arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me while your servant slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. 21When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, he was dead; but when I had looked at him in the morning, behold, it was not my son whom I bore.”

Solomon has just received from God the gift of a wise and discerning heart. He wakes, worships, and holds a feast; and then, almost at once, the gift is put to the test. Two women come before him with a wrenching, impossible dispute: each claims the same living child as her own, one having lost hers in the night. There are no witnesses, only two women and their conflicting claims. The wisdom Solomon received was not for abstract contemplation, but for this, the hard, tangled realities of human life.

Notice how quickly the gift of wisdom meets a hard, real case. Solomon does not receive wisdom and then sit in serene contemplation; he receives it, and almost immediately faces a heartbreaking dispute with no easy answer, two grieving women, a living child, and no way to tell the truth by ordinary means. God's gift of wisdom was given precisely for such moments, the difficult, painful, tangled realities where discernment is truly needed.

That is worth remembering about the wisdom God gives. We may want wisdom for its own sake, or imagine it as something for calm reflection; but God gives wisdom for the hard cases of real life, the tangled disputes, the painful decisions, the situations with no obvious answer. If you lack wisdom for the hard realities you face, ask God for it, as Solomon did; for God gives wisdom to those who ask, and gives it for exactly such moments. Do not expect the hard cases of life to be spared you; but do expect that God will give the wisdom you need to meet them, as he gave Solomon wisdom for the wrenching case that came to him. Ask him for wisdom, and trust him to give it where the realities are hardest.

Lord, Solomon had just received from you a wise and discerning heart, and almost at once it was tested by a wrenching dispute: two women, each claiming the same living child, with no witnesses and no easy answer. His wisdom was given not for serene contemplation, but for the hard, tangled realities of human life. Remind me of that about the wisdom you give. I may want wisdom for its own sake, or imagine it as something for calm reflection; but you give wisdom for the hard cases of real life, the tangled disputes, the painful decisions, the situations with no obvious answer. If I lack wisdom for the hard realities I face, help me ask you for it, as Solomon did; for you give wisdom to those who ask, and give it for exactly such moments. Keep me from expecting the hard cases of life to be spared me; but help me expect that you will give the wisdom I need to meet them, as you gave Solomon wisdom for the wrenching case that came to him. Give me wisdom for the hard realities I face, Lord, and I will ask you for it.