1 Kings 5-6: A God of Beauty

From the beginning of Solomon's reign, he was given a task to accomplish: he was to build a temple for the Lord. He was even givens plans for how to build that temple. Wouldn't that be nice? To be handed exactly what you need to accomplish for the next 5 years of your life? I spent a long time asking God this question: what do you want me to do? This is a great question to ask, but I think I put a little too much weight behind it. I thought if God would just tell me what to do, things would be easier. I wouldn't spend all this time wondering if I was going the right direction or not.

I stand on the other side of things now. I'm pretty sure I know exactly what God wants me to do: lead my family and build a company. Things do seem a lot clearer. Here's the thing though about receiving a calling: you aren't often told how to do it. You might have a pretty clear picture of what it should look like in the end, but that doesn't mean you are going to know how to get there.

Solomon's wisdom is displayed most clearly to me in how he goes about building the temple: he asks for help. We see this in 1 Kings 5, in his interactions with Hiram.

"For you know that not a man among us knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians" - 1 Kings 5:6

Just because this task was given to Solomon doesn't mean he has the skills to accomplish every part of it. He recognizes that his people are not as skilled in cutting timber as the Sidonians are, so he asks them for help and is willing to pay whatever they thought was right. He treats them with respect. It is because of this that the king of Tyre exclaims:

"May the LORD be praised today! He has given David a wise son to be over this great people!"

I often get trapped in the belief that I have to accomplish this task I have been given on my own. It's mine. My precious. Get back! I lose sight of the way that God works. He never asks us to accomplish anything on our own. He is always moving through families and groups of people in the Bible. I don't have to protect my calling, fearing that someone else will get the credit. I should be bringing in as many experts and people better than me as possible, so that this temple will be the best that it can be. That is wisdom.