Wisdom might not be the perfect prayer request.

Many thanks to Saint Mary's Press

What if God asked you, "What do you want me to do for you?"
Without even thinking hard, I guess a bunch of us would most probably say, "Please give me wisdom!"

Over the years, I've found myself silently hearing God asking me this question, just like many fellow Christians I talk to, and we all said that, "Give me wisdom." was our response every time. This is simply because we have been taught that wisdom is the most perfect prayer request one can make, just like king Solomon did when he asked God for wisdom instead of riches, fame and long life (1 Kings 3:9).
We continue to learn that God was so pleased with king Solomon's request that he gave him the wisdom and also added to him fame and riches  (1 King 3:13).

However, I now have a few points that I believe need to be considered before we crown "wisdom" as the most perfect prayer request:

Wisdom doesn't always guarantee a good ending.
Even with all his wisdom, king Solomon did not walk in the ways of God at the end of his life.
"The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice."
1 Kings 11:9

Yet I'd want to have what king David had; he pleased God so much even at the end of his life that God urged all the kings that came after David to obey him(God), just like David did.

If you do whatever I command you and walk in obedience to me and do what is right in my eyes by obeying my decrees and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will give Israel to you.
1 Kings 11:38

The point today is not that wisdom is a bad thing to ask for, it's how we ask for it that matters.
It so happens that we ask for it in fear, we are not being honest with our needs, we put aside our hurt and ask for wisdom since it's perceived to be the most perfect prayer request. 
We might be sincerely battling with a terrible disease, but when God asks, we say we want wisdom; we might be in some dire need of financial help, but we say we need wisdom.

Maybe we surely do need wisdom, but even when we ask for it, we ask for wisdom openly (or should I say vaguely?). Not even king Solomon asked for wisdom in an open manner, just for just. He asked for wisdom to lead God's people.
We ought, therefore, to ask for wisdom to do something, not just the wisdom as it plainly is. We might ask for wisdom to teach, wisdom to transform lives, to lead, wisdom to excel in academics, and so forth. If we need wisdom from the bottom of our heart, it is better asked for to do something specific.

"So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?"
1 Kings 3:9

I believe God loves it when we are honest with him, because even when we are not, he knows what our hearts' desires are, as well as our inner-most motives. When we try to cover it up, we are hurting ourselves and our intimacy with God.

Lovely Wednesday friends.
Welcome back from the compulsory internet break for us in Uganda. I surely missed sharing with us last Wednesday 

God bless you.
Till next Wednesday.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Overworked yet Underpaid, Solution.

Image
Photo credit; Campus Move 101 Yes I agree with you, I might not be the perfect person to offer the solution, for the sorrow of being overworked but underpaid However you can still hear me out, please do. Since the percentage of graduates who are able to get jobs every year is very low, about 20%, many employees are in this sad situation of being overworked and underpaid since they are even lucky to have a job.  However even with some of the best paying jobs, we are still underpaid especially in Uganda. Most people work for at least 8 hours a weekday, and spend about 2 hours commuting, making it 10 hours, then sleep for also 10 hours per night making it 20 hours each day then we are left with only 4 hours of our lives and a weekend to live; to have quality family time, spiritual growth, give back to community, read, go back to school, relax, exercise, keep up with work assignments and follow up the side hustle. If you spend more than 8hours at work, tha...
Read more

Are you confused too? | Knowers and Believers

Image
Image from Freepik.com I love rules (strange, right?). I always love to know the rules and regulations not necessarily so that I may follow them, but to simply know how far inside or outside the line I might find myself at a particular point in time. There is a difference between knowing and believing, and I  am quite convinced that most of us do not fully distinguish between these two. We seem to think that we believe something, even though we simply have knowledge of that thing. For example, As a Christian, you know that God is your Father, you know that cattle on a thousand hills belong to Him, but when you are broke or troubled in any way, do you respond to that situation like a child of a president (God is the president of the world) would? Children of prominent people would rarely behave the way most of us do when we are broke; in most cases they'd be thinking of when they can get to talk to their father. Our actions usually reveal whether we simply know (about) something o...
Read more

Handling bad news

Image
Bad News | The New Yorker A girl had gone away from home to go to college, and while at college, she wrote her parents a letter that said, " Since I left for college, I've been remiss in writing, and am sorry for my thoughtlessness and not having written until now. But I'll bring you up to date now. But before you read on, please sit down. Are you sitting down? Don't read unless you're sitting down! Well, am getting along pretty well now, the skull fracture concussion that I got when I jumped out of my dormitory window when it caught on fire shortly after my arrival here, is pretty well healed. I only get those sick headaches that I've been having now once in a while instead of everyday. Fortunately, the fire in my dorm and the jump was witnessed by an attendant at the gas station. He ran over, took me to the hospital and continued to visit me there. When I eventually got out of the hospital, I had no where to live because of the burnt-out conditions of my room...
Read more