Orig: 2/14/11
McMinnville, Oregon
9 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 (1 Kings 3:12)
Last year
I had spotted a tremendous buck unaware as he raked his antlers against a
Douglas fir. I had a tag but never shot because I was trying to get Darby his
first buck. Knowing the temptation of situations just like the one rubbing the
fir tree below me I didn’t want to succumb to selfishness.
Unfortunately
Darby couldn’t see the buck eventually eluding us and we never saw him again. I
knew the temptation because my dad had a similar habit of shooting two “first
bucks” in his excitement.
“Is he
legal dad? Dad? (Boom!)
“Yes, he
was legal.”
Like so
many the “fever” often got the best of dad and I knew I might do the same so I
chose the path of wisdom. A man controls his heart by using wise judgment. A
man must strategize all contingencies in his mind so he is not trapped between
a rock and a hard place.
Solomon
was young. Solomon was a man of peace. Solomon had giant footsteps to follow
I find it
interesting that before God ever granted him a “wise and discerning heart (12)” he possessed a wise and discerning
heart. Solomon asked for what God had given him.
Wisdom
knows how to control his heart. Wisdom knows the things that cause the heart
trouble and fix it before it breaks. Wisdom protects the computer before
pornography becomes a temptation. Wisdom plays a decision out before its
fruition. Wisdom sees the big picture.
It thinks
before it acts, considering the best play not the play at hand.
