Bible Recap Week 22

This week on The Bible Recap, Pastor Eric walks through the life of Solomon and the tension of a man who loved God sincerely—but incompletely. Together we wrestle with the question: if God handed you a blank check like He did Solomon, what would you ask for?

Solomon asked for a discerning heart, and through his story we see that God’s wisdom was never meant to elevate ourselves—it was meant to serve people. True wisdom treats people fairly, especially when situations get messy and complicated.

This conversation also challenges us to think about our own spiritual formation. What are we building into our lives now that will carry us through later? Spiritual formation matters because it’s the foundation that sustains us through both blessing and hardship.

Join Pastor Eric for an honest and practical conversation about wisdom, leadership, discernment, and the kind of faith that lasts.

Transcript

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Hey everyone, and welcome to the What is It Bible Reading Podcast? This is Pastor Eric, and I'm really glad you're listening. This podcast is one of the tools that we're using this year as we read through the Bible together. It's a chance for us to think about last week's reading. What's standing up to you? What's confusing? What might you be saying to us along the way? Today we're reading three minutes. Church members in the responsibility or opportunity to make a difference like this. So let's get started. There's a lot of beauty in these chapters, and uh there's also some warning. Walter Brugeman, one of my favorite Old Testament scholars, says Solomon reigns reign, uh Solomon's reign represents the high watermark of Israel's imagination. Everything looks golden, everything is peaceful, prosperity is going on, influence is happening, there's a lot of wisdom. But as we see in our reading, there are some cracks that are beginning to form. So let's walk through chapter three and parts of chapter four. Chapter three begins with this troubling detail. Solomon makes a marriage alliance with Pharaoh's daughter. Now, politically, this was a good thing to do. Diplomatically, it was pretty strategic. But we know from our 22 weeks of reading scripture together, spiritually, this is a compromise. This is important because scripture often shows us that a decline, either in a person or uh a church or um a group of people, decline rarely begins with rebellion, outright noticeable rebellion. Decline usually begins with rationalizing. Solomon loved the Lord. The text says that plainly in verse 3, but it also says, except he sacrificed at the high places because the temple had not yet been built. Um, I want to look at this verse 3 of chapter 3. Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the instructions given to him by his father David, and then the word, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on high places. In other words, he loved God sincerely, but incompletely. And I want you to see that that tension matters. The pitiful, the pivotal moment comes when God appears to Solomon in a dream at Gibeon and says, Ask what I shall give you. Imagine that moment. God hands Solomon a blank check. I think of all the things that I would have asked for. Solomon could have asked for military dominance, he could have asked for wealth, he could have asked for uh revenge against his enemies, he could have asked for a long life, but instead, he asked for a discerning heart to govern the people. The Hebrew idea here of a discerning heart is fascinating. Um, Solomon literally is asking for a listening heart. So he's not asking for just intelligence, IQ, EQ, uh, not information. He's asking for a heart that is capable of hearing God rightly and discerning truth. That's biblical wisdom. Wisdom in scripture is not messing primarily about being smart, it's about living aligned with God's order and God's character. Again, Bruggeman says wisdom is the capacity to live life as God intends it. That's a needed correction in our culture because we confuse knowledge with wisdom all the time. We have information that uh that we have more information than any generation in history, but information does not automatically produce uh wisdom, discernment. Um I know people that know a lot of facts, but they destroy relationships, or I know people who can really quote theology, but they can't get along with people, um, and they're often despised by others. You can build a platform because of your gifts and talents and wisdom, but you can lose your soul. Solomon asked for the deeper thing, and the scripture says God is pleased. God says, because you did not ask for riches and power, Solomon, I'm gonna give you wisdom. And I'll also give you what you didn't ask for a long life if you keep these commandments. There's a principle here. When God can trust your heart, he often will entrust you to greater influence. Let me say that again. When God can trust your heart, he often will entrust you to greater influence. Notice uh the verse 13 and 15 uh in chapter 3. Um, moreover, God says, I will give you, moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for, both wealth and honor, so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. Verse 14. And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, then that's an if-then statement, then I will give you a long life. I love if-then statements. Um, if if you know, uh if you've heard me at all very much, I often will talk about if-then statements. I love to find them in scripture. Um, because because what it is, this this is a conditional gift. If you walk in my ways, then I will do this. As I was I read this this week, um, uh one of the things I kind of sat with for a while is uh if God said to me, ask for whatever you want me to give you, what would immediately come out of my mouth? Sit with that for just a just a second here. Ask for whatever you want me to give you. What would immediately come out of your mouth? Because our, I should say, my first instinct reveals my deepest trust. And I think our our first instinct really reveals our deepest trust. Um, many of us, many of us might pray, Lord, remove the difficulty first, or we might say, uh, Lord, make me successful, or make life easier for me, or you know, money, or when you're my age, you know, a uh a healthy return on my portfolio until the day I retire. But Solomon says, Lord, if I could ask anything, help me to lead with wisdom. Wow, that's maturity. And honestly, the older I get, the more I think wisdom may be the most underrated leadership quality out there. We desperately need leaders and Christians with deep discernment. Christian leaders who can navigate complexity without losing conviction, Christians who are thoughtful and slow instead of reactionary, Christians who listen well, have a calming presence before just talking. James chapter 1 says, If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. And that that invitation still stands. When we get into chapter 3 a little bit later, verse uh 16, um we we see that Solomon's prayer kind of comes to a test. Two women, two prostitutes, come before King Solomon and they're arguing over a baby, kind of a famous story in the Bible. Both of them claim to be the mother of this child. There's no evidence. Remember, there's no witnesses, there's there's no DNA test that we could do. And humanly speaking, it's it's impossible. How are you supposed to tell? Then Solomon makes this shopping, shocking statement. Um, bring me a sword and I'll just cut the child in half. And at first glance, you know, there's kind of this gasp, it sounds brutal, but Solomon is exposing the true heart of each woman. The false mother is fine with the destruction of the child because, you know, if she can't possess the child, then nobody's going to possess the child. But the real mother would rather lose her rights than lose the child's life. And Solomon discerns truth through compassion. This is profound. Biblical wisdom sees beneath appearances, it recognizes the movements of the heart. It's it's discernment. I'm so thankful that my wife, throughout our entire ministry, has had has had a gift of discernment that I have leaned heavily on. Others have ignored it, but I I I have grown to appreciate the discernment. Now, is she always right? No, but but I I lean into her discernment because um it it has this there's a biblical wisdom that she has that she can see beneath some appearances, it recognizes the movements of a human heart that I can sometimes miss. Chuck Swindol notes that wisdom often reveals itself through patience and insight rather than an impulsive action. And the people are stunned because they recognize this incredible wisdom in Solomon. It says, uh, the scripture says the people held Solomon in awe because they saw that he had wisdom from God. Notice that phrase carefully. Wow. Think about what people in the US celebrate. Uh we celebrate wealth and power and uh strength and titles and first place and second place. Uh we we celebrate accomplishments, we we celebrate uh new things, but God values discernment. He celebrates discernment. And the thing that so many celebrate in our world can easily manipulate other people. The the other serves people. I I've I've talked to churches who have they're considering looking at a pastor, and they will choose a pastor because they're they're taken back because he he or she has you know little children, and that would help them reach younger families, and they have a spouse that maybe can make a lot of money so they don't have to pay the pastor as much, and they get all excited about all of these outward things that this pastor could bring to them. And and I always I will always say, so so what do you hear the spirit saying about this person coming to be your pastor? And sometimes I just get these blank stares, like, well, what's that have to do with anything? You see, God God values discernment. The thing that so many celebrate can easily, easily manipulate people. When I started at Water's Edge just um almost two years ago now, there was there was kind of a uh a uh a hush um or a I uh what do I want to say? Um kind of a low, uh, I would hear little like little whispers like um, isn't isn't the new guy, isn't the new guy too old to do this? I remember one Sunday that I was here and uh Jeremy was not here, and so I I led worship from the piano, and there were some people that were like, oh no, are we there's a piano? Why why is there a piano on the stage? Are we going back to last century? And there was just this, oh no, he's not gonna bring what we need, or he's not gonna bring what the last pastor brought us. You see, the thing that so many people celebrate can can really manipulate individuals, um, but God's wisdom serves people. True wisdom, true wisdom treats people fairly. This is the this is that whole justice and mercy theme that scripture has going on. You know, one of the lar clearest signs of spiritual maturity is how we handle people when situations can get messy. Um just kind of going back to the whole piano thing and me being too old to be the to be the pastor of following someone that was younger. Um one of the things that that I listened to and just kind of smiled at and I mean I mean, maybe it I guess it could bother me a little bit, um, if I were if I were honest, but but for the most part, I was just I just knew that people were mourning and they had to just kind of learn how to handle that disappointment, and I tried to treat every single one of them that had that concern with fairness and justice. Um and so yeah, can can we can we discern or listen to the heart of God without becoming cynical? Can we pursue truth without losing compassion? Can we lead without crushing individuals? Thinking about this subject of treating others fairly, you know, there are a lot of books being written right now on church hurt and spiritual abuse in churches, um, and they're selling by thousands. Why? Why is that? Because we have lots of leaders that are not filled with wisdom, but they're filled with drive and passion and talent, all of which are not bad things, but Jesus embodied wisdom perfectly. Um I think the most important, underrated uh character in a leader is wisdom. James chapter 3 says, the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy. That sounds an awful lot like Jesus. We need hearts that know how to listen to God and to listen to the heart of God. That's that's where wisdom is found. Well, as we get into chapter four, um, it begins to describe Solomon's administration and his kingdom and has a lot of different names and introducing, you know, different officials and structure. But the point is really big, bigger than that. And and it actually is um the text is saying, you know, Israel at this point is flourishing. The text says Judah and Israel lived in safety, every man uh under his under his own vine, under his own fig tree. And that's that's an image that represents peace and stability and blessing. Things are going well. It it almost appears that, and it is, but it almost appears that God's promise to Abraham is reaching this fulfillment that we can remember from 20 plus weeks ago as we were reading. The kingdom is now organized, the economy is thriving, borders are secure, Solomon's uh fame is spreading internationally, and verse 29 says, and God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure. And and Solomon writes Proverbs and he writes the songs, and people come from all the nations to hear him. Um, this is a breathtaking moment, and this is where, again, Brugeman, Walter Brugemann, becomes really insightful and he warns us that prosperity, success, can create the illusion that you are the one that is great. Success can make people forget dependence on God. And if you keep reading Kings, that's exactly what happens. Everything looks glorious. That's how, that's how the drift usually begins to work. Rarely, rarely is uh is a church or a family or a country um destroyed over one catastrophic decision. It's it's a gradual accommodation. Several years ago, I was working with a church and a pastor that was having some what appeared to be minor issues. The congregation was a ways uh raising some awareness of character issues and leadership. And I met with the congregation and then I met with the leaders and I was kind of there for a weekend, and we talked, and and the leaders, I was I was cautious when I was uh meeting with the leaders because they were explaining away all of these concerns that the congregation had. And I told them that they were dismissing these issues way too easily, and I thought they needed to sit and they really needed to listen to the congregation, they kind of needed to own some of their own stuff and have a fresh start and kind of a you know, a circle of prayer and all these things. Well, the leaders thought, nah, if they did that, they would look too weak. So they decided to admit to me, not to the congregation, a few things, and that would just kind of be good enough. That, okay, we'll work on some of these things. A year later, fast forward a year later, those same leaders ended up firing the very pastor that they were defending because some of the character flaws that they have failed to address. And and when they when it didn't seem so big, it didn't feel like a big deal. Um they felt at the time, they felt like things at the church were going too well, that if they addressed these concerns publicly, it it might it might um affect the success of the church. And by the time they dealt with the issue, the issue was too late. Um success uh and my life is ministry, so I'm kind of just reflecting in ministry, but this works you know in in whatever whatever situation. Success can be um potentially spiritually dangerous. One of the hardest tests in life is not adversity, it's success. Very few people can handle success because suffering, suffering uh in adversity drives us, usually drives us toward God. But success makes us think that we are great and we know what to do and we are responsible, even though we can say, Well, I'm trusting God, but but deep inside we know that you know it's it's because we get up early and we do our best and we know what is best, you know. And so when life is working and when money is flowing and when influence is growing and when opportunities multiply, and in my world, when the church is growing and people are happy and people are serving, we can slowly begin trusting the gifts and ourselves and convince us it's because of our great leadership, and we can trust in that more than the giver of those blessings. That's why spiritual formation matters so much more than public achievement. Spiritual formation matters so much more than what a resume says. Resumes lie. Spiritual formation matters deeply. Standing on a stage, winning an award, hey, that's a that's a momentary at a boy. But the spiritual formation is the one is the thing that carries us through to wisdom. I pray for a lot of pastors, and one of my prayers is always that character the character of church leaders and pastors will grow faster than their ministry or their church. Well, as I wrap this up, I want to say something about Jesus. You know, the New Testament points us beyond Solomon to Jesus. As a matter of fact, Jesus himself says in Matthew chapter 12. There's something greater. There's someone greater than Solomon that is here. You see, Solomon had wisdom, but Jesus was wisdom. Solomon was able to discern the hearts of two women, but Jesus discerns every heart. Solomon built a uh a kingdom of uh temporary peace and success, but Jesus's eternal kingdom will be a kingdom of peace for all eternity. Solomon's reign uh eventually fractured, but Jesus' reign will never fracture. He is the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. And unlike Solomon, Jesus never drifted. He remained perfectly faithful to the Father. And that's that's our prayer, not merely to become wiser people, but to be transformed by Jesus. Let me see Jesus only. There's a there's a verse that I want to close with today. It's an old, again, old song written by Dale Olam, uh early uh early church leader in the church of God. Verse 2, it says this Let me strive not for the riches of this earth that soon decay. From the world I've turned to Jesus in his more abundant way. Let me see Jesus only, Jesus only, Jesus only. Let me see Jesus only. Only he can satisfy. Thanks for listening today. Hey, if this episode encourages you, share it with someone walking through maybe leadership or decision making or spiritual discernment, or just share it on your uh social media page and uh deeply appreciate it. God bless you. I look forward every week to walking in the Word with you. You can find more information about Water's Edge Church at www.watersedge.faith. And you can listen to our weekly message on any platform under the Water's Edge website or by downloading the Water's Edge app.