The Beginning of Wisdom (Aug 18)

Readings, 1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-15 and Psalm 111
Image, Alfonse Borysewicz, Pomegranate, 2010–11. 70 x 50”, Oil & Wax on Linen

Perhaps it is the stories I was raised on, perhaps it is playing Dungeons and Dragons, but when I hear a story where a God asks a man, Ask what I should give you, my first impulse is, ‘be careful what you wish for.’ How many stories has our culture inherited of trickster deities offering a blank check, only for the wish to backfire in surprising, though legally buttoned up ways? King Midas wishes that everything he touches turns to gold, this comes true, but of course, everything means everything, even his beloved daughter. Jafar wishes to be an all-powerful genie, without realising this means being bound to a lamp. Scrooge wishes to be left alone, and is shown a future where he dies forgotten and unloved. Dear Dorian Gray wishes that he would have eternal youth, while all effects of aging are visited upon his portrait, a fate he later discovers leads to internal corruption and torment.
 
Solomon avoids a fate such as this. The story attests that his request of God for an understanding mind to govern God’s people… pleased the Lord. So pleased is God that Solomon is not only granted wisdom surpassing any who have come before or will rise up after, but also the more typical wishes people might ask of God: riches and honour.
 
Now, we might read this as a testament to the character of Solomon. He evidences his virtue in knowing the humble, service-focused thing to ask. This is often the way in stories, where the only one who can pull the sword from the stone, or wield the immensely powerful magical item, is the one who is pure of heart and free of selfish desire. Only those who would not ask for power and riches gain it, for in not wishing they demonstrate their worthiness. Aladdin proves himself worthy of the princess by using his final wish to free the Genie instead of asking to become a prince. Solomon demonstrates his character as one worthy to rule through service, as prepared to shepherd God’s people by desiring only what will assist him in his task. Solomon thus stands as an exemplary witness for us to emulate, a paragon of wisdom, who asks of God for nothing more than the capacity to serve those to whom he is responsible. May all our prayer lives be likewise, asking to become a blessing.
 
However, deeper still, this reading is a testament to God. To the God of our Psalm. To our God who is not two-sided, malicious, devious, or disinterested. For the God who asks, what should I give you, is the Righteous One, whose works are full of honour and majesty. The one who comes to Solomon with open hands, is the one whose hands are just, and precepts are trustworthy. Solomon can ask with confidence because the God who comes to him is the one who creates, redeems, and sustains all things with love and faithfulness. More important than the one who prays, is the one we pray too, who listens with tender patience, and yearns for us to ask for what is wise so that our knocking can be answered. The question is, then, how to learn to be wise… Thankfully, it is not too difficult.
 
Solomon, we learn from the psalm, is able to make the noble request, because he knows who God is. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This is one of those poetic, though archaic phrases, that can ruffle our collar. Is it fear of God’s judgment, God’s distance and severity that allows us to rightly posture ourselves? Put otherwise, do we need a certain level of fear of God in order to follow what God says; like the child who puts away their toys for no other reason than they fear the raised voice and lowered spoon? This, friends, is not the case, this is not the fear that leads to wisdom. To fear the Lord is to learn and revere the great things God has done. To fear the Lord is to stand before the truth of God’s benevolence and righteousness in thankful humility. We fear the Lord not by cowering but celebrating who God is for us. We might as well say, knowledge of God is the beginning of wisdom, reverence of God, delight in God, trust in God. Solomon was ready to pray for wisdom, because he had already begun down her path when he studied with delight the great works of God. This is the beginning of wisdom; his prayer is only its consolidation.
 
For us, our practice of collective worship, coupled with our being sent to love and serve the Lord with and amongst our neighbours, is the beginning of wisdom. In this movement of going and gathering we hear and proclaim the great things God has done. Here we give thanks for the redemption God has sent, remember the promise of the covenant, and learn to trust the faithfulness of God’s character. And in our movement to the world, we learn what we need from God in order to best serve our neighbours. In praise and service, we learn more of who God is, and stride further down the path of wisdom. To state it most simply, to ponder and delight in Christ is the path of wisdom, and this delight is found both in our gathering as Christ’s body in worship, and our going as Christ’s body in service.
 
This is not a new connection. Early Christian communities intimately identified Christ with the Wisdom of God. As we read in Proverbs, the Wisdom of God was present at creation with God, before the beginning of the earth, when God established the heavens, and the sea was assigned its limit. Whoever finds Wisdom, the Proverb teaches, finds life. Such language resembles closely the beginning of John and the role of the Word. The path of Wisdom, is the path of the Word. To seek God’s Wisdom is to seek Christ, to be wise, is to be Christlike.
 
So give thanks, for our life with God is not one of navigating linguistic landmines, but is the delight that comes when we reflect on the character and action of God, and allow these thoughts to well up inside us and flow through us in our love and service of the world. This is the fear of the Lord, this is the beginning of wisdom, this is the path of life, Praise the Lord!