1 Kings 3:16–28 ‘They saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice.’ (v28)
Grief can lead to crazy actions. We may have heard of siblings warring against each other when their parents die, battling over material things or how to settle the estate.
Blame is bandied about, with labels slapped on one another in emotionally charged exchanges. The loss of a loved one is therefore amplified in unfortunate ways.
We see a grief-fuelled situation in this story from 1 Kings 3, when two women came before King Solomon and asked for his ruling on which of them was the mother of the child who died in the night.
That they were sex workers meant that they were part of the lowest class of society, without families to care for them.
In the ancient Near East, if a woman’s husband died and her broader family didn’t welcome her into their home (or her husband’s brother refused to marry her), she’d be left destitute and may have had to turn to sex work to survive.
Then, as now, many reasons pushed women into the sex trade. That King Solomon would take the time to give a judgment in this case shows that he cared for the downtrodden.
And note the creative approach he took in discovering the living child’s true mother. He stilled the women’s angry exchange as he got them to reveal their motives, as the real mother couldn’t bear to see the boy die, even if that meant she’d be separated from him.
By this ruling, all Israel knew that God had given their king the gift of wisdom. We too can seek godly wisdom, which often bears the hallmark of a creative approach to problem-solving.
A Prayer To Make:
‘Lord God, You are the source of all wisdom, and You impart Your grace and truth on us. May I sit at Your feet today and learn from You. Amen.’
An Action To Take:
Look back over the year thus far and identify times when you’ve felt God has given you His creative wisdom.
Scripture To Consider:
Prov. 8:11–12& 19:20–21; 1 Cor 2:6–16; Col. 3:15–17
