On Sunday our usual service was replaced with another dedicated Learning for life morning which started by looking at the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament and especially the Book of Proverbs.
When Solomon became king, we are told that God said to him in a dream, ‘Ask me for whatever you want me to give you.’ Solomon replied, ‘Give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and
to distinguish between right and wrong’. And God was pleased that Solomon had not asked for a long life, or for wealth, or for the death of his enemies, and God granted his request.
We then find a fascinating description in 1 Kings 4:
‘God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. … From all nations people came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.’
The second session moved us to the New Testament to think about the Apostle Paul’s claim that ‘the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.’
The session focussed on how we can become more wise by ‘not conforming to the pattern of this world, but by being transformed by the renewing of our minds.’
According to Solomon in Proverbs 16.16 it is, ‘better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver!’
Revd Stephen