Author: admin

There are some things under a leader’s control and there are others that are solely dependent upon God. We can lead well. We can work build morale in our organization. We can strive to learn and grow as a leader. But we have little control over what other people do.

When God was pleased with King Solomon, God chose to express His pleasure by causing his opponents and enemies to be at peace with him. Being at peace meant Solomon and his people were free to enjoy prosperity. Later, when God was displeased with the king, God allowed his enemies to rise up against him.

When a leader is pleasing to God, it brings blessing to his people. When opposition is stilled and prosperity sets in, everyone benefits. Is it clear that God is presently pleased with your leadership? If He is, what is the evidence? How are others currently benefiting because God is satisfied with you?

The king always makes the headlines! The top leaders dominate the news and draw the most attention. But their success is largely dependent upon the team they bring around them.

Solomon was known for his great wisdom. But one of the first things he did with his acumen was to enlist the best people available to work with him. Solomon did not try and do all the work or to make all the decisions. Rather he organized his team of officials and set them to work. The result was the most magnificent age in Israel’s history.

We all remember Solomon. Few of us can recall a single name of his officials. Yet Scripture lists them, for the biblical scribes knew they had played a crucial role.

The reason some leaders never achieve greatness is because they fail to build effective teams. No leader, regardless of how talented or hard working, can do everything. Good team members magnify our efforts many times over. What is the caliber of the people you currently have working with you?

Do people recognize the hand of God upon you? Is it obvious that you are accomplishing things that would be impossible were it not for God’s active presence in your life? Such was the case with Solomon. When the king exercised his heaven-sent wisdom, everyone marveled at his God!

Solomon might have insisted upon respect from his subjects as their God-appointed king. But instead he exercised the gift God had granted him, and those he led came to fear him as a result. It is one thing to demand respect. It is another to lead in God’s power so people cannot help but admire what they witness happening in your life.

When people watch you lead, what do they see? Do they see a well-meaning person doing the best he can do? Do they witness someone trying to maximize their talents? Or do they see a servant of God serving in the power of her Master? When we serve the King, we have his entire treasury and arsenal at our disposal. There ought to be something unusual about a Christian who leads in God’s strength.

God rarely takes long to put our divine gifts to work! If God put something in your hand, He expects for you to use it. God gave Solomon his wisdom. Soon after, Solomon faced a situation that would call upon that divine equipping.

The gifts of God are never merely for our own personal use. Whether it is a job, a house, wealth, health, air miles, or leadership ability, if God grants something to you, He has a purpose for it. To hoard our divine gifts is to rob others and to reject God’s activity in our life.

A word of warning: God may have a different use for your gifts than you expected! It is doubtful that king Solomon requested wisdom so he could better mediate disputes between harlots! He probably was thinking of international diplomacy or the national economy. He could hardly have imagined that the first test of his newly minted wisdom would be to determine which prostitute was lying. But that was what he was called to do.

Don’t presume on how you will put to use what God has granted you. He may have granted you leadership skills, but what you are called to lead next might not be anything like you imagined! That’s OK. With the divine gift will inevitably also come the divine assignment.

God often makes “if . . . then” promises. Some of his commitments are unconditional. Many are not. We would do well not to confuse the two. God promised Noah He would never again destroy the earth as He had (Genesis 8:21-22). You can take that promise to the bank.

But other divine promises are strictly conditional. If we keep our side of the bargain, God will bless. If we don’t, God will curse. Solomon received a conditional promise. IF he followed God’s ways, statutes, and commandments as his father David had done, THEN God would give Solomon a long and prosperous life. Solomon had an obligation before God that he had to keep. If he failed to do so, then God was exempted from blessing the king.

Unfortunately many Christians today assume that God will bless them wholeheartedly regardless of how they live. It is as if God is a doting, naive grandparent who cannot help himself but shower riches upon his spoiled grandchildren even though they are wicked, rebellious, and ungrateful. Most earthly parents would not be so foolish. Righteous, almighty God certainly is not.

God has made many “if . . . then” promises to you as well. Are you keeping your end of the agreement?

God is concerned with what is in our heart. If we have greed, selfishness, and pride, He will not entrust us with His treasures. But when He sees that our hearts are pure, He bestows on us the riches of heaven.

Solomon could have pursued what every other king sought after, and he might have received it. But Solomon raised his aspirations to a higher level. He did not allow the desire for wealth and prestige to cloud his priorities. He kept his head on straight and stayed focused on what mattered.

Over the course of our careers, we may come to a crossroad where our next decision has major ramifications on us and on our family. We can accept that promotion, but we may have to travel more and be away from our family. We could purchase that home, but it will eliminate the discretionary income we were investing into God’s kingdom. We can expand our business, but lose our freedom of control. We can accept that larger church, but be forced to leave the field where God has been richly blessing and our family thriving. Every decision comes with consequences.

King Solomon refused to be enticed by the allure of wealth. Instead he made a wise decision. That godly choice would reap rich rewards for the remainder of his life. Are you presently facing a decision? How are you going about making it?

One of the most intriguing questions is: if God were to grant you whatever you asked, what would you request? We must remember that when Solomon made this request, he was just beginning his leadership role. He was still untested for the most part. He had no idea what conspiracies might be developing among his enemies. He did not know if the surrounding nations would seize the opportunity at the death of his warrior father to mount an insurrection. Young Solomon faced an extremely uncertain future.

If the young ruler had merely been looking to have his immediate needs met, he might have asked for protection, or vast wealth. That would have been thinking short-term. But unlike wealth, wisdom lasts for a lifetime. It affects your life for many years to come. Solomon wisely asked for something that could benefit him many times over. He clearly demonstrated wisdom, in asking for it!

The irony is that God’s wisdom is also available to everyone who truly desires it (James 1:5). The problem is that not everyone is willing to do what is necessary to receive it. Unlike Solomon, many of us are more enamored with the temporal, and the immediate, rather than what would benefit us long term. We grasp at the treasure in front of us and neglect the wisdom that would have enriched us for years to come. How much do you desire God’s wisdom?

The greatest gifts God grants us come after we have first ensured that our heart is right with Him. Too much of our praying and even our worship is based on what we want from God, rather than what we offer Him.

In Solomon’s case, his greatest divine invitation came after he offered his most spectacular sacrifice to God. The king had not asked anything of God. He had not bargained. He had not negotiated, so that, with his offering he anticipated something from God in return. Rather, Solomon simply gave to God, generously and wholeheartedly. In response, God blessed the king.

We live in an age of selfishness. People look out for their best interest. If we put money in the offering plate, we wonder what we will get in return. Even after all God has done for us, it can be difficult for us to unreservedly offer our wholehearted worship back to Him. Instead, we fill our prayers with requests of what we want God to do for us. We judge the success of our worship experience by what we got out of it for ourselves.

Ask yourself whether your current walk with God is unselfish. Do you worship, serve, and commune with Him because you love Him, or because you need Him?

Our walk with God cannot be kept with a scorecard. We cannot assume that because we are doing nine things that are pleasing to God, we can live with one habit that dishonors Him. It doesn’t work that way. Whenever we say, “except that” or “but,” we are in trouble!

Solomon did many things the same way his revered father David had. “Except that, he offered sacrifices and burned incense” on the high places. The pagan Canaanites had used these worship sites during the time before Joshua and his forces defeated them. However, the idolatrous centers remained, littering the land, and enticing God’s people. From the City of David, one can see the hills lining the city, where the high places would have prominently overlooked Jerusalem.

It was not that Solomon was necessarily worshiping idols at this time, but he was trying to worship the true God in a pagan setting. And, in such a venue, it was only too easy to begin to mix false worship practices with the true faith. That was why God instructed His people to worship Him at the tabernacle, and later the temple, where the sanctity of worship could be preserved. However, the moment we take control of our walk with God, we run the risk of contaminating it. If our walk with God is going to be pleasing to Him, it must be done His way.

Human strategies always appear to be brilliant but they come with a steep price tag. Solomon was not a warrior like his father. He chose to use his brain instead of his brawn, to rule his kingdom. That would have been fine, had he always relied on God’s wisdom instead of his own brilliance.

In ancient times, marriage alliances with surrounding nations helped preserve peace. It was assumed a rival king would not invade a nation where his daughter was a queen. So Solomon made haste to marry the daughter of the Egyptian Pharaoh. How far the nation appeared to have advanced! Once slaves of Egypt, now marrying into its royal family! But Pharaoh and his family did not worship the true God. And, as a powerful family on the world stage, they expected to worship their own gods, regardless of which country they lived in. Even Israel.

Ultimately it would be these marriage alliances and the marrying of many women that would be the downfall of Israel’s wisest king. In following worldly “best practices,” Solomon forsook godly wisdom. The brilliance of the world seems appealing, but it leads to alienation from God.