Masonic Service

8^th June, 2007

1 Kings 3 

    A Canadian peacekeeper is on patrol in the Middle East when he stumbles across a lantern half buried in the sand. He picks it up, rubs it and out comes a genie. The genie tells the peacekeeper he can grant him one wish - anything he wants. The peacekeeper pulls out a map of the region and says he wants nothing more than peace throughout the region - no more fighting. 
"Wow," says the genie, "that's a tough one. I'm pretty new at this. Do you want anything else?" 
The peacekeeper thinks a moment and asks, "How about my Leafs winning the Stanley Cup?" to which the genie replies, "Let me see that map again."

   If you had just one wish what would it be? Or if you had one prayer that could be answered what would you pray for? Wealth? Success? Health? There's a story told of a man listening to a small child and figuring out that this child was praying. Little girl was praying. He listened closely, he overheard, and it seemed to be a mumbled jumble that she was speaking. So he went over and he said, "What are you doing?" and she said, "I'm praying." And he said, "What are you praying?" and she said, "I'm praying a-b-c-d-e-f-g-h-i-j-k" and went through all the letters of the alphabet. "Why are you praying all the letters of the alphabet?" he said. "Well," she said, "I really don't know what to say to God. But I figured out that if I say all the letters of the alphabet, God will put them together in the right words and it will all work out." If you had one prayer that could be answered what would it be?

   Our Old Testament text shows how one of the most famous of the Israelite Kings answers this question. The incident happens very early on in Solomon's reign. You will remember that there is a lot of pressure on the young king. He is after all the son of David  the most beloved king of all. He had big shoes to fill. He also has come to the throne at a crucial time in his country's history. David had consolidated territory and won wars. Now there was peace. But what would young Solomon do with this peace? What was next for Israel? What would his economic policies be? Should he seek more territory and initiate new wars? More importantly what should he do with all the native religions whose temples continued to flourish and tempt the Israelites? Solomon was twenty years old and overwhelmed. He knew he would need help. He realized that he could not count on his advisors, he couldn't put his faith in his generals. So he did the only thing he could. He fell on his knees and prayed. He opened up his heart to God and asked for the one thing he needed more than anything else. He prayed for wisdom.

Solomon prays for wisdom and God hears the prayer. But what's fascinating about this particular passage in Scripture is that we're given a little bit of insight into the mind and the working of God as well. God tells us why he hears this prayer, why he honors this prayer, why he says yes to this prayer. It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked for wisdom. God said to Solomon, "Because you have asked this and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word and I do more."

God recognized that this wasn't a selfish prayer. Solomon wasn't praying for himself. He wanted wisdom so that he could serve God as king and here is something that God longed to give to Solomon. The letter of James picks this up on this in the New Testament and says if anyone asks for wisdom, God will give it. Here then is a prayer that God longs to answer. If you want to pray a prayer that works in terms of requests, pray for wisdom. Our God longs to share such wisdom, not only with Solomon, but with people like you and me. How amazing a church would be if all were to gather and pray for wisdom. Wisdom is a gift God longs to give.

But what is this wisdom that God longs to give? What was Solomon asking for? What would we be asking for if we prayed for wisdom?

Well, let's think for a moment about the nature of wisdom. Let me say right from the outset that wisdom is a fine word to describe something very natural or normal. In some sense, wisdom is nothing other than common sense, although sometimes common sense is very uncommon. Wisdom is a kind of common sense that comes not from God, though it's built into the creation that God made, but from what might appear to be very secular observations about life. If you turn to the book of Proverbs, the book of wisdom above all others, what you'll find is a collection of sayings and a collection of observations about life in which someone says, "Aaah, this is what happens in the world around about us. Let's learn a lesson from it." It's not just the belonging of ancient Israel, the book of Proverbs. Much of it seems to be linked with the wisdom of other nations in the ancient world at the time. It wasn't something that was just was owned by religious people, but by secular people as well. It simply comes from observation of the realities of life around about us. Look at the ant. See what it does in the summer to get ready for the winter. We need to be like the ant. Simple observation. This is the kind of wisdom your parents taught. Work hard. Don't give up. Be good to others and others will be good to you.

A story is told of one executive who asked an older person who had been highly successful what the secret of his success was. The executive, looked at him and said, "I think the secret of my success has been good decisions." The young man said, "Well, how do you get to learn about good decisions?" and he said, "Experience. It's experience which has led me this far." "Well, how do you get experience?" to which the older man said, "Bad decisions." A wise man learns from experience and observation. A wise man listens to the advice of others, to parents and elders.

Each year thanks to the labours of researchers across the globe we greatly multiply humankind's knowledge, but knowledge is not the same thing as wisdom. Knowledge is just information that usually leads us from the simple to the complex. Wisdom is a practical thing. In fact, it usually leads us from the complex to the simple. I like Charles Swindoll's definition. He says, “Wisdom is the God-given ability to see life with rare objectivity and to handle life with rare stability”

You look at life. The cards that God deals you. The ways in which you've handled things before. The things that go right. The things that go wrong. And you move ahead. Our prayer for wisdom is that we would have enough powers of observation and insight to move ahead and not be stuck where we are.

Wisdom then is common sense based on observation. But it goes beyond that for Solomon. True wisdom is common sense that we use. Not just for ourselves, but a common sense that we use for others, that we use on behalf of others.

Solomon says "I want to rule this nation. I don't know how. I'm out of my depth. I've reached the point of my own incompetence. I need you, Lord. Here, right now, I need this wisdom to do the job you've given me to do, not merely for myself, but for this whole nation over which I am king."

At some points in our lives, of course, we're all at that point. That point where we are responsible for the lives of others -- whether in our business or in our families or where ever it may be. Maybe we are in a place of civic responsibility, in our own department at work, where we need help, where the rules or the policy book just don't cover everything that we need to know in order to do what we need to do, in order to help people who need our guidance and who are depending on us. We need wisdom.

Solomon prayed for such wisdom, not for himself, but for others. He wanted wisdom so he could serve. He wanted it for the benefit of the community, for the building up of the nation of which he was a part. Wisdom then, is always meant to benefit those around us. Our nation, our province, our towns, our churches, our families, all need wise leaders.

One further thing to say about this wisdom, which at first sight seems to be so secular, so down to earth, so based on common sense, is that ultimately, if in fact we are to be wise people, we must, of course consider God. It is not wise to live life as if there were no God. It is not wise to live life as if we are God, as if our lives are in our hands. Consequently scattered throughout the book of Proverbs, we see one statement repeated over and over, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." When we seek wisdom, we are really seeking God. Without God, our lives will wither away and die and become insignificant, no matter how smart, how wise, we seem to be.

When we turn to the pages of the New Testament, we find Jesus in one of his stories calling one person in particular a fool. Imagine our Jesus calls someone a fool. This person is a person who does not take God into account, who stashes up his riches, builds bigger barns to put his money in and then dies. "What good is that?" says Jesus. "You can't take it with you. If that's all you live for, it is sheer foolishness, if this life is all there is."

True wisdom is to know the ultimate reality of life. The wise man knows that our lives are bound up in the very life of the Living God. Indeed the bible reminds us that it is in the life of Jesus whom God has sent, whom the gospels call "One who is wiser than Solomon" and whom the Epistles call "The very wisdom of God." that wisdom is found. He is not only the source of our salvation, our redemption, our righteousness, our sanctification. Jesus, says the Apostle Paul, is our wisdom. You want to find wisdom embodied in flesh and blood. Turn again and again to the life of our savior Jesus Christ.

Friends pray for wisdom. Pray that you will be wise enough to learn from the past, from your mistakes and successes. Pray that you will be wise enough to learn from those around you. From your elders, from your parents and even your children and grandchildren.

Pray for wisdom. Pray for common sense, that you will not pass through life unobservant. Pray for wisdom. Wisdom, to use your life effectively for others. Pray for wisdom, that those things which are at the heart and the core of life, the very being of God who sustains us in our weakness, may be incorporated into our lives so that our lives will make eternal good sense. Pray for wisdom so that you can be of service to God, country, family and neighbor. May God grant you this prayer