THE PRAYER FOR WISDOM
FEBRUARY 4
We should pray for wisdom to make the best decisions for ourselves and others, with God’s guidance.
Work through the following questions and scriptures on your own, and get together with your running partner, life group, or friends and family to talk through what you are learning.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- Who do you consider the wisest person you know? How would you describe their wisdom and how have you seen it in action?
- How do you think wisdom is defined in American culture? Do you agree or disagree with this definition?
- Read 1 Kings 3:1-15. This passage recounts the beginning of Solomon’s reign as king.
Make some observations about this passage (What does the text say?):
- What do you notice and what are you curious about?
Make some interpretations (What does the passage mean?)
- What do you learn about humanity?
- What do you learn about God?
- What do you learn about biblical wisdom?
Now make some applications (what’s my response?)
- How are you encouraged, challenged, or convicted by this passage?
- What should be our response to this passage?
4. Read 1 Kings 3:16-28. In the message, biblical wisdom was defined as “truth applied in context”. Life is messy, not clear-cut, so we need God’s wisdom to navigate the complexities of life.
- How do you see Solomon’s wisdom in action through this scene? How do we see his request to God answered?
5. How do you approach the messy, unclear decisions in life?
- Is your first instinct to seek God or go to a friend, google, or your favorite influencer for their advice?
- Or, maybe you do go to God for help, but you really want him to just drop the answer from the sky and sit passively till God tells you what to do?
- Why is this your first response?
6. What are you currently facing in life that you need God’s wisdom to navigate? How can your community come alongside you in this?
KEY SCRIPTURE
1 Kings 3:1-15 Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem. The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built for the Name of the Lord. Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the instructions given him by his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places. The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day. “Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. 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?” The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. 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. And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.” Then Solomon awoke—and he realized it had been a dream. He returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then he gave a feast for all his court.
1 Kings 3:16-28 Now two women who were harlots came to the king, and stood before him. And one woman said, “O my lord, this woman and I dwell in the same house; and I gave birth while she was in the house. Then it happened, the third day after I had given birth, that this woman also gave birth. And we were together; [a]no one was with us in the house, except the two of us in the house. And this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. So she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from my side, while your maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. And when I rose in the morning to nurse my son, there he was, dead. But when I had examined him in the morning, indeed, he was not my son whom I had borne.” Then the other woman said, “No! But the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.” And the first woman said, “No! But the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.”Thus they spoke before the king. And the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son, who lives, and your son is the dead one’; and the other says, ‘No! But your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’ ” Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to one, and half to the other.” Then the woman whose son was living spoke to the king, for she yearned with compassion for her son; and she said, “O my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him!” But the other said, “Let him be neither mine nor yours, but divide him.” So the king answered and said, “Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him; she is his mother.” And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had rendered; and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.
PRAYER
Intercession: take time to intercede for one another in the areas you shared that you need God’s wisdom.
End by praying the serenity prayer together:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardship as a pathway to peace; taking, as Jesus did,
this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that You will make all things right if I surrender to Your will; so that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.
-Reinhold Niebuhr
TAKE A NEXT STEP
- A great next step in growing in wisdom is to join one of our Gateway U groups where you will deepen your knowledge of and relationship to God through His word. Many of our groups start this week and you can sign up here: https://www.gatewaychurch.com/events/?ministryID=49
- Use the above guide to help you pray for wisdom throughout the week.
FOR THE FAMILIES
Hey, families! Here’s a look at what we’re covering with your kids so you can help them continue to grow at home during the week.
THIS WEEK
All month long we will be talking about how God uses unlikely people to do amazing things!
THE BIBLE: “Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)
THE MESSAGE: God is more interested in how we show our love for Him than how we look on the outside. God knows what we are thinking. He knows if we are being selfish or kind, loving or hurtful. God is more interested in how we act than how we look. Just because you are a kid, doesn’t mean God can’t use you for great things. He can use you to tell your friends and family about Jesus, to be an example of love and kindness to people you meet, and remind others that there is always hope in Jesus!
THE BIG IDEA: God can use me to do amazing things!
ASK THIS
Because sometimes you and your kid need a conversation-starter that isn’t,
“So . . . how was church?”
- What did you learn today about David?
- In what ways can we look more at a person’s character rather than their outward appearance?
REMEMBER THIS
In the Bible, we can read many stories about how God gives His power to people. And then, with God’s power, they can do amazing things. It didn’t matter what kind of talent they had back then, God cared more about a person’s heart. And He cares about the same thing today. How is your heart today?
NEXT WEEK
Next week we will learn that no matter what you are facing, no matter how big the problem, It is NEVER too big for God. Our God conquers every giant!