King Solomon did NOT ask for wisdom… He actually asked for an understanding heart to rule his people!!
1 Kings 3:9 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?
So we find in 1 Kings 3:12 that he Lord gave Solomon a wise and understanding heart because of Solomon’s request for an understanding heart.
The word in Hebrew for understanding is ‘shama’ which has quite a deep meaning of which three elements are:
a) to hear with attention or interest, listen to
b) to understand
c) to obey, be obedient (obey the Lord)
These are key things a leader needs.
a) to hear the Lord and His people. Being quiet and listening to the Lord is so important to be calibrated to His heart.
b) to have divine understanding of people’s needs and understand each situation they face. Our understanding can fail, but when we received divine revelation and understanding we can be Jesus to those in need
c) to obey the Lord and know and live in His ways. Obedience of the heart, not just a mechanical following of law. This is so much about knowing Him and His ways. It is about having a heart like David, a man after the heart of God.
The idea of an understanding heart in leaders draws together two other thoughts that have been emphasised in the last couple of years.
These other thoughts are:
1) Leaders need to be shepherds first (2 Sam 5:2 Also, in time past, when Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them in; and the LORD said to you, ‘You shall shepherd My people Israel, and be ruler over Israel.’) Pastor Mark Baker taught this idea powerfully in 2015 at the Gathering of the Generals in Kenya then Uganda. King David was to be a shepherd then to be a ruler.
2) You can’t be a shepherd unless you are also a Father. (John 10:14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.) John 10 shows that Jesus the great shepherd is also manifesting the Father’s heart. (spiritual dad Graham Taylor asked me some time ago to think about the connection of shepherds to fathers, and John 10 became the key to this study)
So bringing all of this together we as leaders need to be fathers, shepherds; and to lead with a hearing, understanding and obedient heart to the Lord.
Further, Solomon had a conditional promise in 1 Kings 3:14 So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days. This verse can be broken down into the following:
a) walking in His ways – this connects with the idea of Moses knowing the ways (heart) of God and Israel knew the acts of God. Solomon was to know God and the His heart.
b) keeping the Lord’s statutes and commandments which is summed up by Jesus in Matthew 22:36-40. We are to love the Lord with everything and also our neighbour. Having a loving heart is essential. This also implies a humble, forgiving and repentant (soft and changeable) heart before the Lord.
c) as your father David walked – David of course was the LORD had sought for Himself a man after His own heart. Again leadership is a heart issue.
So beyond the ‘shama’ understanding heart, there is the idea that we need to know Him more and that all Wisdom comes from knowing His heart. We cannot have a wise and understanding heart without seeking Him and His ways.
I feel that the Lord is calling leaders to a deeper connection with Him so they might be more effective fathers and shepherds to the people God has given into their care.
The Lord is calling for the hearts of the fathers and the hearts of the children to be reconciled and again turn to each other. Malachi 4:6 has been a huge prophetic theme at this time going back a couple of years. Reconciliation, repentance, and restoration are ministries of the fathers of the faith.
In a society where Godly morals and values are crumbling fathers and mothers in the faith are rising up in love, power, and strength to bring healing and restoration to lives. Each of us are called to this purpose.
City and national transformation will come as the fathers and mothers in the faith bring the hearts of the children before the Lord.
*** As a side note (thanks Graham Taylor) we need to stop using the word mentor and use the word father/mother. Let me explain. Consider the following three models of teaching.
1) Guru/disciple (as in maybe a buddhist or other situation). If the disciple messes up (sins) then they get the left boot of fellowship and the relationship ends.
2) Mentoring. This is a secular business term. If the relationship between the mentor and mentee is strained, then they both just walk away. There is no deep abiding commitment in mentoring.
3) Father/son heart relational. As a father when my child sins I will continue to reach out in love. Consider Luke 15 and the prodigal; the father never stopped looking for the return of his son, and when the son returned he was loved and restored. The son can always turn to the father when things go wrong and be restored. Sons need the input of love and discipline from their fathers.
So stop being a mentor and start being a father to those who God has put in your life.
Here is a blessing prayer for fathers and mothers in the faith! I pray this for you all.
(More on blessing prayers here: The Awesome Power of Blessing – free book )
Abba Father I bless each father and mother in the faith in Jesus mighty name!
I bless each of you with a ‘shama’ understanding heart the you might lead with love, grace, and wisdom.
I call forth the Spirit of reconciliation, repentance, and restoration over your lives as Holy Spirit shepherds you on your journey by the power of the Holy Spirit.
I bless those fathers and mothers who have taken upon themselves, the responsibility of parenting many sons and daughters in the faith, in Jesus name!
I bless you fathers and mothers with vision, direction, protection, health, healing, compassion, care, love, fulfilment, prosperity and all that God has for your life.
I bless you fathers and mothers with all that God has for you in this next year and beyond; may His purposes be complete in your life.
I declare that you fathers and mothers are blessed and called of the Lord for His good purposes.
May you to be great speakers who do not flatter, but speak truth in love that is received.
May you be a fruitful bough by a clean and pure well, and may your branches run over the wall.
I bless you with forgiveness for people, mercy to be in your heart, and passion for the Lamb of God and Yahweh Almighty.
May you have intimacy with the Father in heaven and that this will lead to knowing His heart in all matters.
May grace flow from your family line in the favour of God.
May your bow remain in strength, and the arms of your hands be made strong by the hand of the Mighty God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in Jesus Christ’s Name.
May you hear the voice of the Holy Spirit clearly and obey at all times.
May you know Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour more deeply with a love built on the Heavenly Father’s Precepts.
I bless you each one in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit