Give Me An Understanding Heart

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Give Me An Understanding Heart

Sermon by  Thomas Thornhill Jr

Passage: 1 Kings 3:9


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Most of us are familiar with the request of Solomon to God after He became king.  When David died, it was his desire (and YHWH’s – 1 Chronicles 22:7-10)) that Solomon would be king and continue his dynasty.  David had made preparations including giving Solomon specific instructions as king and encouraging him to remain faithful to God.  As Solomon begins his reign, he was righteous and loved the LORD (1 Kings 3:3).  At Gibeon, YHWH appeared to him and offered to give him anything he wanted.  Solomon answered (1 Kings 3:7-9), Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted. Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”  The request pleased YHWH, and He noted that because he did not request wealth, long life, fame, the life of his enemies or power, He would give him a wise and understanding heart that excelled anyone who had gone before.  He also blessed him with riches and honor. 1 Kings 3:10-13.  BUT this was followed with a condition in vs. 14 that he remain faithful.

Tonight, I want to focus on the request that Solomon made, Give me an understanding heart.  This is a request that we each ought to be making before God regularly.  We ought to be seeking wisdom and understanding in our lives.  Solomon, with his wisdom wrote, Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. (Proverbs 4:7). The first few chapters of Proverbs strongly address the value and need for wisdom to preserve us.  James 1:5 specifically describes wisdom as something we can ask God for.   WITH this as a backdrop, what are some areas we might need a good understanding of, and perhaps a BETTER understanding?

We need a better understanding:

  1. Of Ourselves –
    1. Before we can be useful to others, we must understand ourselves. Other than God, we likely know ourselves better than anyone else does.  We know our strengths, limitations and weaknesses.   We know what we need to work on.  As Christians this applies to us, both physically and spiritually.
    2. 2 Corinthians 13:5 calls for us to examine ourselves and to test ourselves. Both words call for us take that “spiritual inventory.”  The words are switched in some versions (LSB & NASB).
      1. “Examine” (NKJV) means to put something to the test to determine its strength. This is the same word for “tempted” in James 1:13-14 & Matthew 4:1 with Jesus in the wilderness & Hebrews 4:15 where He was “tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin.”  Hebrews 11:17 speaks of Abraham being “tested” to offer Isaac.  So the point of the word is that we seriously scrutinize ourselves to see “what we are made of.  Consider 1 Corinthians 9:27 where Paul “disciplined” his body.   While a different word, it points to the idea of testing ourselves.
      2. “Test” (NKJV) – is the word that means to observe, inspect or look over something.  To determine if something is genuine.  This word was used as Jesus told a parable about commitment and the excuses men made.  One wanted to have his oxen tested (Luke 14:19).  It is found in 1 John 4:1, 1 Peter 1:7 – our faith is “tested by fire”, 1 Thessalonians 5:21 – we “test all things, hold fast to what is good”, etc.   The point is, we need to know our strengths and vulnerabilities.  Galatians 6:3-4 warns us to be care to NOT think more highly of ourselves than we ought to.  Instead we examine our own works.   See also Romans 12:3.
    3. The better we understand ourselves the better prepared we will be to help others.
    4. One reason this is so important is because our eternity depends on it. Matthew 16:26 – What profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul.
  2. Of Others –
    1. One of the points we have been emphasizing in our Bible class (about discipleship) is our need to think about others. The better we understand others, the better prepared we will be to teach them and help them.
    2. We must understand the sense in which we are all equal before God – Galatians 3:27-28, Acts 17:26 reminds us that God has made all mankind of one blood (cf. Genesis 1:26-27). God shows no partiality (Acts 10:34-35) and desires that all be saved (2 Peter 3:9).
    3. And we must understand that we are all unique with different needs and approaches. That is why Paul adapted his approach depending on whom he interacted with – 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, we also see it how approached various individuals teaching.  For example, when teaching in a synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia (Acts 13:13ff) he taught them based upon Jesus fulfilling the LOM.  But in Athens (Acts 17:22ff) he sought to introduce a pagan and idolatrous audience to who God is.
    4. The challenge is to balance these and with wisdom and discernment. BUT there are principles we need to always apply.
      1. Philippians 2:3-5 – calls for us to esteem others better than ourselves. In this we also look to the example of Jesus whose humility demonstrated how much He cared.
      2. Matthew 7:12 – treat others (always) the way you would want to be treated.
      3. James 2:8 – The command to “love your neighbor as yourself” must always apply (even as a royal law).
      4. Philippians 2:15 – you must always let your light shine.
      5. Romans 12:17-18 – repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.  Live peaceably with all men.
      6. Galatians 5:13 – We are called to be servants
  3. To judge righteously –
    1. John 7:24, Jesus noted that we should judge with righteous judgment (not based upon appearance.
    2. Matthew 7:1-5, a passage we have addressed warns of judging others with wrong motives – e.g., prejudice, preconceived concepts, hypocritically, etc. Jesus was strong in saying the way you judge is how you will be judged.
    3. Colossians 2:16 – Paul dealing with liberties noted that we must be careful NOT to judge others in such matters.
    4. It takes wisdom and an understanding heart to judge righteously. Especially when we understand that how we will be judged, forgiven (Matthew 6:14-15) and shown mercy (James 2:13 – mercy triumphs over judgment) depends on how we exercise these qualities in our hearts and actions.
  4. Of God’s will –
    1. Ephesians 5:17 calls for us to understand what the will of the Lord is. 1 Corinthians 14:20 notes that we are not to be children in understanding.
    2. WHY is there so much misunderstanding about what God wants us to do? While there may be many factors, it boils down to man wanting to do things his own way. Rather than accepting God’s will, they substitute it with their own will – Matthew 15:8-9. Romans 1:18-25 summarizes the rejection of God by men.   Proverbs 14:14, The backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways, But a good man will be satisfied from above.
    3. 2 Timothy 2:15 – instead of following man’s ways, I need to be diligent to ensure that I understand God’s word and handle it accurately. Acts 17:11 – search the scriptures daily to verify truth.
    4. Ephesians 4:11-15 – God has given us teaching leaders to equip us so that we will not be “tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine…
    5. But in this I also need a desire to learn His will. We need the attitude of David in Psalm 25:4-5, Show me Your ways, O LORD; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.
    6. Clearly, when it comes to knowing what God wants us to do and be, we need to be praying for an understanding heart. James 1:5 – you lack wisdom, ask…
  5. To discern between good and evil –
    1. Not only should we desire to know God’s word, we also desire to know the difference between good and evil.
    2. And the Bible is clear that there is a difference. 2 Corinthains 6:14-17, Romans 12:9 calls for us to abhor what is evil and cling to what is good.  Ephesians 5:11 notes that we are to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.
    3. Then there are the “lists” – Galatians 5:19-21, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Romans 1:27-32, 2 Timothy 3:1-5, etc. They make a clear distinction between good and evil, right and wrong, light and darkness, serving our King and serving the dragon.
    4. Consider Paul’s prayer in Philippians 1:9-10, And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ,
    5. Hebrews 5:12-14 – he challenged the brethren because they had not matured to the degree they ought to.  His answer is found in Hebrews 6:1 – go on to perfection.
    6. Proverbs 14:15, The simple believes every word, But the prudent considers well his steps.
  6. Of the church –
    1. We frequently emphasize the importance of the church of Christ.
    2. Matthew 16:18-19 – Jesus built it, Ephesians 1:22-23 describes it as His body.
    3. Ephesians 3:10-11 – it was a part of His eternal plan.
    4. In spite of what man might think today, we need His church. We need a group of God’s people who are seeking to stand true to His will.  We need our support group that has the same standard and goal that we have – to get to heaven.
    5. But why is there so much division, even among professed bodies of Christ? The reasons are many, but as we noted in previous points, much of it boils down to man placing his desires over God’s will. This is NOT what God desires.  1 Corinthians 1:10, Ephesians 4:1-3, etc.
    6. Let us pray for an understanding heart. Let us seek to know that God has given us a pattern to follow.  Throughout the pages of the New Testament we can learn how He wants to be worshipped, what her work is, how she is to be organized, how one is added to the church universal and ought to join  a local work, what steps we must take to keep her pure, various doctrines that matter and the efforts we must put forth to keep in fellowship both with God, Jesus AND with one another (1 John 1:3).
    7. Lack of unity is NOT in these matters is not a hallmark of virtue. Based upon His word, what we do matters to Him and ought to matter to us.  And He has been clear enough that we CAN know His will.

As we noted at the beginning, Solomon’s prayer was answered.  And early on, that wisdom guided him.  Sadly, later in life he abandoned God’s wisdom for his own.  And that became his downfall.

AND just like Solomon, we need to be praying often for an understanding heart in all matters of faith.  But let us keep praying with a desire not only to know His will to faithfully do all things His way.  And, unlike Solomon, let us keep that faith and our understand true to the very end. What about you?  Do you have an understanding heart?

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