"Only a Little Child" (1 Kgs 2:10-12; 3:3-14)

“What Would You Wish For?” 

“If a genie in a bottle granted you three wishes, what would you wish for?” This was the question du jour in third grade while shooting the breeze at the bus stop or chewing the cud in the cafeteria. Disney’s animated version of Aladdin had just come out. I imagine that’s where the question originated.

The conventional wisdom was, of course, to ask for more wishes—that is, to maximize your return, to get everything you wanted.

A Lesson from His Father

Solomon does not follow the conventional wisdom at this point in his life. When God invites him to make a request, he does not seek to maximize his return. Part of me wonders if this is because he remembers the experience of his father. David usually got what he wanted, but the result was often trouble. Bathsheba here is the prime example. But more generally, David’s success comes at the cost of making more enemies.

Perhaps Solomon can see that getting what you want is not all it’s cracked up to be.

Where Solomon’s Wisdom Comes From

Solomon is a legendary figure in the Bible. He is especially famous for one thing. His wisdom. Which strikes me as a little bit ironic. His fame is for something for which he does nothing. His wisdom is not a special ability he’s been born with or a skill he’s developed or knowledge he’s acquired. It is not the result of any effort or merit on his part. It is a gift from God.

And I don’t know—perhaps that is still reason enough for fame. To be the special recipient of an extraordinary gift. Except…I wonder if he’s meant to be an exclusive recipient and if the gift is meant to be extraordinary. In other words, I wonder if his wisdom is meant to be not an outrageous, otherworldly ability that we envy and admire but rather a very practical example that we imitate. 

The Wisdom of a Child’s Heart

To reiterate: for Solomon to receive God’s gift, it is not a matter of doing anything. It is only a matter of orientation, attitude. “I am only a little child,” he prays. “I do not know how to go out or come in” (1 Kgs 3:7). “Going out and coming in” is a Hebrew expression for a person’s daily activities. The image that Solomon’s prayer conjures in my mind is my nephews, who still need help tying their shoes before they go out, who still need help taking a bath at the end of the day when they come back in. Yes, they can do many things on their own. For instance, they both recently demonstrated mastery of the monkey bars on the playground. But even when they’re doing things like this on their own, they’re never alone. The love from their parents is in their hearts. The behaviors their parents have taught them are in their body. And their parents are never too far away when they cry out. And, perhaps crucially, they’re not afraid to cry out.

I do not think it’s a coincidence that Jesus says that to receive the kingdom of God, we must become like little children. Little children are supreme examples of what it means to know our need and to trust in a loving higher power.

Solomon’s prayer fleshes out a further dimension of a child’s wisdom. Our NRSV translation says he asks God for “an understanding mind” (1 Kgs 3:9). But the Hebrew, I think, is more profound. Lev shome‘a literally means “a listening heart.” (Lev, “heart,” is the word used in the scripture, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…” [e.g., Deut 6:5].) “An understanding mind” suggests mastery. It suggests a grownup who’s been around the block and knows what is what and how to do things. “A listening heart” suggests attention. It suggests a child who knows there’s always more to the world than they know, who is curious and open.

My nephews have a listening heart (at least some of the time!). They are little sponges. When they see something for the first time, like when they saw deer on the edge of the woods, or when they hear something for the first time, like when I gently explained what a hurricane is, they are rapt with attention. You can see the fascination in their eyes,  the little wheels turning in their mind, their heart open wide.

I wonder if Solomon’s wisdom is as legendary as we have made it out to be or if it’s not, as his own prayer would suggest, as universal as childhood. To be needful, trusting, and attentive to a loving higher power.

A Lesson for Us from Solomon

If Solomon’s prayer demonstrates the attitude by which a person receives God’s gift of wisdom, then it seems to me, tragically, that Solomon gradually forfeits this attitude and God’s wisdom over the remaining years of his life. Many readers have observed that, as King Solomon completes numerous impressive building projects and enlarges Israel’s wealth and reputation, he also begins to recreate the very same conditions of oppression under which Israel suffered in Egypt. Forced labor, heavy taxes, conscription.… Solomon effectively becomes a new Pharaoh. It is no surprise, then, that when he dies, “all the assembly of Israel” comes to his successor, Rehoboam, and says, “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke that he placed on us” (1 Kgs 12:3-4).

If Solomon begins his reign as an example for us all, bearing a child’s heart that is needful, trusting, and open to a loving higher power, then he ends his reign demonstrating the antithesis of a child’s wisdom. He has come to resemble the self-reliant, controlling king about which Samuel had long ago warned the people of Israel  (cf. 1 Sam 8).

The apparent lesson in Solomon’s negative development is that wisdom is not a static quality. It is not something that is achieved or secured once and for all. It is, rather, a daily disposition. It is why Jesus prays to his father for his “daily bread.” Wisdom is the opposite of mastery. It is daily becoming only a beginner, “only a little child.” It is daily acknowledging our need, living in trust, and paying attention to the God who loves us.

My Prayer for You

Sometimes in scripture Paul shares with the church to whom he is writing his prayer for them. This morning, I would like to share my prayer for you—for us. This is very personal for me. We all have different prayer styles. I have always envied people who have the gift of extemporaneous prayer, who can pray on the spot with just the words that are called for. That is not my gift. Instead I usually pray words that have assembled themselves together over a period of time as I have listened to my heart and what it is trying to say. And so every morning, I pray roughly the same prayer for my loved ones, which includes you. I pray that God would open us up to his goodness and the goodness of his creation.

I’ve heard that prayer really boils down to three basic expressions: thanks, help, and wow! My humble addition to that catalogue would be: “Open me (us) up!”

As I read today’s scripture, I think I understand my own prayer a little more clearly. When I pray that God would open us up, I am really praying that God would make us like little children (again), knowing our need, living in trust, and paying attention.

This opening up—what we might call the wisdom of a little child—we see most clearly in Christ. Paul says that it is foolishness to the world. He says that the world looks at Christ’s opening up and sees weakness. The world's wisdom is self-reliance and control. It is to wall up. The wisdom of Christ, which is the wisdom of a little child, is to open up. And for followers of Christ, it is the power of God. It is our salvation (cf. 1 Cor 1).

In closing today, I would like to share a little more of my prayer with you.

Prayer

Loving God,
Bless this day
And be with my Trinity family and our loved ones.
Open us up to your goodness
And the goodness of your creation.

Open us up:
To trust in your love and to walk with courage in its way;
To receive Christ in every encounter;
And to give thanks in all things.
May your love nourish us, guide us, and give us the strength to live well.

And grant us the peace of being comfortable in our own skin,
That we might be a blessing to others
And that we might grow in love and wisdom.
In Christ, whom we follow: Amen.