The Spirit of Solomon

The Spirit Of Solomon

In the early days of the reign of Solomon, the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice to the Lord. While there, God appeared to Solomon and asked him, “What shall I give you” (1 Kings 3:5)? The answer of the young king is revealing into the purity of motives and humility of heart impressed upon the son of David. Solomon praised his father David for his faithful walk with the Lord but now that he was king Solomon recognized the immense burden of leadership that now rest upon his shoulders. He would not ask of God riches and power but rather something that he understood was more important than anything found in the world: an understanding heart to judge the people. This request came from the spirit that dwelt in his own heart as he told the Lord, “I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in” (1 Kings 3:7).

Children have a purity about them that comes from the innocence of age. They are fully trusting and dependent upon others to guide them and take care of them. No child can survive left alone and as the heart of the child grows it learns how to walk and talk and care for itself. When the child grows into maturity it leaves off that dependence and seeks its own way. Jesus described the people of God like children when He said, and said, “Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3-4). The disciples wanted to know who would be great in the kingdom and Jesus reply is a child.

In our spiritual life we are never to mature to the point we no longer need God. We should always be children in our hearts like Solomon. Our confession daily must be we know not “how to go out or come in” and “I need thee every hour” (Annie S. Hawks). Our troubles come when we no longer think and act like a ‘child of God’ and are no longer little in our own sight. The predecessor of Solomon and David was Saul of Kish who in the beginning of his reign had the heart of a child. Then he took upon himself the role of thinking for God and in the final insult to God did not destroy the Amalekites as commanded by the Lord (1 Samuel 15). In his rebuke the prophet Samuel said, "When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel” (1 Samuel 15:17)? Saul lost his child like heart.

David wrote of the child’s heart in Psalm 131 – “Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty. Neither do I concern myself with great matters, nor with things too profound for me. Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me” (Psalms 131:1-2). As children of God we follow the will of God without question and through our love for our Father. We are but children and with the spirit of a child’s heart we learn dependence (Matthew 6:25-34) and trust (Proverbs 3:5-8).

There are only children in the kingdom of God. No one is greater than another and we all serve one another as we serve one Father. “But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:11-12). Children learn to wash feet as Jesus shows in John 13. Children understand forgiveness (Mark 11:25-26). The spirit of a child is filled with love (1 John 4:7-11). Be like Solomon: “I am a little child.”