Mensa Otabil - The Large Heart

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Today we are talking about the large heart, and don’t get worried; I’m not talking about your physical heart and logic. I’m speaking about the capacity that God gives us to do big things for Him, and our text is from 1 Kings chapter 4, verse 29.

And God gave Solomon wisdom, an exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore. I like the way the passage describes the kind of heart that God gave to King Solomon. God gave him largeness of heart; the phrase means an extraordinary and expansive mental capacity. In this sense, heart is not referring to spirit but is talking about his soul, his mind, and his emotions—an expansive mental capacity. It discusses the extent of Solomon’s capacity for wisdom.

First, he had wisdom; then the passage says he had exceedingly great understanding, and thirdly, he had largeness of heart. The largeness of his heart is likened to the sand on the seashore, which means it was without number.

So why does the passage say that God gave Solomon largeness of heart? It illustrates the wide range of disciplines that Solomon’s wisdom covered. He was not a small-minded person with a narrow point of view. There are people who are specialists, but they are only specialized in their field and cannot talk about anything else. If they are specialists in football, they will steer every conversation to football. If they are specialists in biology, every conversation must revolve around biology.

But Solomon had largeness of heart; he could touch on so many topics as God enabled him. I pray that God will give you that wide expanse—the largeness of capacity that He gave to Solomon—because our God is a God of all wisdom and all knowledge. He possesses all knowledge and understanding; He knows everything. When you are His children, something about Him must rub off on you. That means, as much as God knows, we must also know so much.

The Bible encourages us in James chapter 1, verse 5, to ask God for wisdom if we need it. James says that when we ask God for wisdom, God will give us liberally; in other words, He’ll give us a lot of it. He’ll grant it to us without rebuking us, and this pertains to the kind of wisdom that Solomon had. Remember, Solomon prayed for wisdom, and when God blessed him with wisdom, it was in abundance.

So when you go to God and ask for wisdom, He won’t just give you a small teaspoon of wisdom to handle minor issues; He wants to give you largeness of heart, large capacity, to expand your mind, understanding, and clarity of thought so you can manage complex issues. That’s what Solomon’s wisdom could do. He was able to determine who the true parent of a child was without a blood test or a DNA report. Why? Because he had largeness of heart.

May the Lord bless you with a large capacity for wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. May your wisdom spread beyond just the disciplines you are involved in, allowing you to have largeness of heart for God to use you extraordinarily in vast ways. If you’re ready for that, ask God for it, and He will give it to you.

So let’s pray; say with me: «Heavenly Father, You are the source of all wisdom and knowledge. Increase me in wisdom and understanding in Jesus' name. Amen and amen.» May the Lord expand you on every side and give your mind the capacity to think. I’m Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.