Bill Johnson - Great Success Comes from Great Decisions
You and I were born for significance. I don’t mean a big title, fame, or all that stuff; I mean significance in the eyes of God and in the sense that we fulfill our purpose. Wisdom is at the heart of this, that you and I could live in and function in Divine wisdom. Hey, well, welcome, welcome, welcome to our Pursuit of Wisdom series, and I pray that if the passion for wisdom is not automatically in your heart right now, it would increasingly take that place in your heart. I believe it’s one of the mandates of the Lord. In fact, it’s so critical that Jesus identified Himself in the book of Corinthians, chapter 1, I believe it’s verse 30. He is identified by Paul as our wisdom; He is the person of wisdom. He was the person of wisdom on the day of creation in Proverbs 8.
So, we are going to look at this person and any characteristics or facets of Christ that are supposed to be demonstrated or manifested in our lives will always be through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. He is the one who helps to make this real and manifest in our lives. The guy we know for wisdom in Scripture is Solomon. I love studying him, and I know that he ended up badly, but it wasn’t the fault of wisdom; it was the fact that he stopped reading his own Book of Proverbs that led him to a mess. However, he really broke some ground for us that I think is profound, and if we can stop being offended at his failure and learn to absorb his successes, I believe we can pick up some things that would help us in this particular hour.
Here’s where we’re going to start. We’ll begin a little later in the story, in the sense that we’re going to go to Proverbs chapter 4. What I want to do in this series is take verses from each chapter and go in sequence throughout the Book of Proverbs, but to start with, I need to begin where the story started. This is where he gives us his account of his journey into wisdom. This is Solomon, and in verse one of chapter 4, he says, «Hear, my children, the instruction of a father; give attention to no understanding. For I give you good doctrine; do not forsake my law.» Here, he starts unveiling his personal journey: «When I was my father’s son, tender and the only one in the sight of my mother, he also taught me and said to me, 'Let your heart retain my words; keep my commands and live. Get wisdom; get understanding. Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.'» It goes on from there; he begins to illustrate the nature of wisdom, the power of wisdom, and how wisdom actually keeps us safe; it guards us, and on and on the story unveils.
What struck me is that we know Solomon was given this visitation from God, which we’ll look at next. This visitation where he was given the opportunity to make a choice; he could have anything he wanted. He found such incredible favor with God that the Lord showed up in a dream and invited him to choose anything he wanted. He didn’t choose long life, wealth, or any of the things that many would have contended for; instead, he chose wisdom. How did he know what to choose? I’d like to suggest that David prepared him for the choice. David was the one who, when his son Solomon was small, began to train him to know what was important in life. David learned through his own ups and downs, his successes and failures, that the real issue of life was to function in Divine wisdom. Divine wisdom is a partnership with the mind of Christ that becomes illustrated and manifested in and through us. Solomon was trained from childhood, «Son, choose wisdom; son, choose wisdom. In your wisdom, make sure that you get understanding; this is the principal thing, this is the valuable thing.»
So, when Solomon is older and now king, and he knows he doesn’t have what he needs to be king, the Lord shows up and says he can have whatever he wants. He was prepared to make the right choice. Here’s the deal: I think you and I can prepare ourselves for future decisions by positioning our hearts and minds in readiness for what God might put in our laps—unearned, perhaps even unexpected, as it was for Solomon. God showed up and said he could have whatever he wanted, and he resisted the temptation to choose what any other king in the world would have chosen: long life, son after son following on his throne. He rejected all of that, set it aside as not the top priority, and chose wisdom. He was prepared to do so.
As parents, we actually prepare our children to make decisions they will face later in life. I like to look at it this way: I’m wondering if Solomon is the only one we see given that option in the Bible, but he is also the only one we see that was trained to make the right decision. I sometimes wonder if the way we train our children, in our relationships with friends, the way we speak prophetically or give encouraging words, and the way we actually deposit hope into other people’s lives might attract the activity of God. God might actually give someone an option because they are the only ones prepared to make the right decision. You and I have a tremendous role in preparing people for a supernatural, fulfilled life in ways that are ignored by so much of the Church. You and I were born for significance; I don’t mean a big title, fame, or all that stuff; I mean significance in the eyes of God and in the sense that we fulfill our purpose.
Wisdom is at the heart of this, so you and I could live in and function in Divine wisdom. There’s a passage in Ephesians chapter 4 that says, «Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for the moment, that it might give encouragement or strength to those who hear, according to the need of the moment, that it might give grace to those who hear.» Think about that with me for a minute. Don’t let unwholesome words come, but instead, speak words that prepare people for grace. Grace is a god-given gift; it is divine favor, divine enablement. So when you and I choose instead of speaking degrading or death words, but really life-giving, encouraging words, we are marking that individual to experience God’s grace. It’s almost like God says, «You trust them; I’m going to trust them.» Now, I understand He’s sovereign; He can do whatever He wants, but he has chosen to co-labor with us, and part of our role in life is to bring strength and encouragement to those around us and to speak words of great hope, attracting into their lives the sense of opportunity and purpose that they might not have had otherwise.
I think that’s what happened to Solomon, and I want to encourage you, as you consider this subject in the pursuit of wisdom in your life, how to prepare yourself. Next, we will look at the actual experience that Solomon had; he had an encounter with the Lord that is so unique and different. I encourage you to read in 1 Kings chapter 3 and chapter 4; you can see what God prepared him for and how it came about that he was able to excel in such extreme wisdom. That’s what we will be pursuing, so I bless you. I pray that such hunger will rise in our hearts together to pursue supernatural wisdom so that we can put on display the mind of Christ. I pray that in Jesus' name, amen.