I’m reading the Bible chronologically (you should already know this!) and David has just passed on the throne to his son Solomon. His other son, Adonijah, tries to make himself king, and that didn’t even last through his fake celebration dinner.
David makes all the preparations to build an illustrious palace for the Lord, and leaves the instructions for Solomon. David tells everyone that Solomon is young and inexperienced, and to help him out. So I thought Solomon was kind of a baby, and I braced myself to read about all the silly things he must have done.
Wrong!
In 1 Kings, chapter 2, David gives his last words to Solomon. David says to walk in God’s ways, and to be strong, and be a man! Then he gives very specific advice, concerning people Solomon needs to watch out for and “deal with according to his wisdom” aka take down.
Solomon starts His reign by cleaning house. He showed no hesitation, everybody listened to him, and I found myself whooping and hollering by the end of the chapter. Solomon was no baby!
How’d Solomon get so cool? He listened.
He didn’t do anything fancy or creative. He just listened to his dad and honored his wisdom.
It didn’t matter that he was young and inexperienced. He listened to his dad, who was old and experienced. He drew wisdom from a deep well.
And we have the same opportunity today, to seek wisdom from the Giver of wisdom.
You’ll be surprised at the random cool things you’ll end up doing, which you never thought you’d be capable to do, because you listened to the Lord.
If you had asked me last May if I wanted to go to Cambodia, I would have said no! To be honest, I knew nothing about Cambodia. I didn’t know the language, couldn’t point to it on a map (it’s not in Africa hahahaha) and I knew nothing about the genocide, Angkor Wat, or honestly anything at all about this place. But along the way, as I listened, God gave me specific instructions. He sent me out to 11 countries for ministry, one being Cambodia, and business as usual was thrown out the window.
I’m not a special kind of Christian. I’m no different than the people who faithfully fill up their churches every Sunday in America or any other country. We all pray, worship, and read about the same God. We love Jesus. He loves us individually, and has plans for each one of us. We tap into His wisdom when we listen to Him, and He guides us according to His good, pleasing, and perfect will.
Listen to Him, and you never know, you might end up in Cambodia!
