Sunday School Lesson on King Solomon Topic Discussion

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Sunday School Lesson on King Solomon Topic Discussion

1.Share a time in your life when you receivedeither really good or really bad advice. What les-son did this teach you about wisdom?

This question will get the class thinking inpractical terms about the importance of wisdomand where that wisdom often comes from. Try toget one or two people to share life stories aboutwords of wisdom that spared them from negativeconsequences. Likewise, the class may profitfrom some negative stories (perhaps starting withthe teacher!) of bad advice they received, perhapsfrom friends during the teenage years.

2.What are some ways that the world defineswisdom? Which of these are compatible withChristianity and which are not? Why?

Worldly wisdom presents itself in many ways:IQ scores, college degrees, street smarts, commonsense, etc. These may be valuable to the Chris-tian in varying degrees, provided that they areundergirded with a denim to honor God.

Solomon proclaims that, "The fear of the Lordis the beginning of knowledge: but fools despisewisdom and instruction" (Proverbs 1:7). Everyquest for knowledge, wisdom, and instructionmost stand on this foundation. Wisdom most in-clude leading people to know and worship theone true God, embracing His priorities.

3. First Kings 3:11 lists some things that Solo-mon could have asked for. Why is wisdom so farsuperior to anything else, both then and now?

It's been said that what will be our undoing inany endeavor or project are the things that "wedon't know that we don't know." Say that I ambuilding a house. I realize that electrical codesexist, but I don't know what those codes arespecifically. Since that's something that "I knowthat I don't know," I can solve the problem with abit of research. That's quite different from beingtotally ignorant to the idea that electrical codeseven exist. That would be a case of somethingthat "I don't know that I don't know." What adangerous situation!

It's wisdom that will keep us out of the "don'tknow what we don't know" situations. It wouldbe natural for an ancient king to request militarypower or to pray for protection from jealous brothers who might like to have him assassi-nated. Wisdom is better because it providedSolomon a sense of discernment concerning thereal need or threat in such areas.

Solomon's request for wisdom also demon-strated a humility that all leaders should havebefore God. The request also showed that Solo-mon had the people's needs in mind above hisown. Each of these is a superior quality in aleader, especially one on David's throne.

4.God gave Solomon more than he asked for.Do you think that those who seek and practicethe wisdom of God are also blessed with earthlyrewards? Why, or why not?

We can agree that this is true, while acknowl-edging obvious exceptions. When Israel kept the law, they experienced better health, inure pro-ductive economies, and ethical, safe communi-ties and families. In Ephesians 6:2 Paul quotesthe Fifth Commandment: "Honor thy father andmother; which is the first commandment withpromise; that it may be well with thee, and thoumayest live long on the earth." When we live ac-cording to God's plans and priorities, we can ex-perience many earthly benefits in health,security, honor, etc., even though those thingsare not our main focus.

5.Why do you think wisdom is so hard toattain? What are the obstacles to acquiring it inour world today?

One obvious problem is that we are too busyto read our Bibles. It is in His Word that Godgives us wisdom, but we simply do not take timeto fill our minds with His thoughts. Instead, wesuccumb to the many other sources of informa-tion that bombard us with falsehood and distrac-tions. It's been said that we are living in theInformation Age, but from a godly perspectivewe could call it the Disinformation Age.
Could it also be that we are seeking the verythings Solomon didn't seek but received any-way? When we seek wealth, security, vengeance,and recognition, we disable ourselves from re-ceiving wisdom. When we seek God's wisdom,all that we truly need tends to come to us in duetime.

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