The Limits of Wisdom

For as long as I’ve known the narrative of King Solomon, I’ve been
baffled by the trajectory of his life. At the beginning of his reign as king, he
admirably illustrated the truth of James 1.5 by asking God for the wisdom to
govern his people. God generously gave him “wisdom and understanding
beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore” (1
Kings 4.29). “He was wiser than all other men” (1 Kings 4.31) and intimately
understood the workings of life, animals, and vegetation (1 Kings 4.32-33).
How could such an amazing mind forsake the Lord so completely later in his
life and worship false gods like Chemosh and Molech, which required child
sacrifices? What can we learn about the limits of wisdom from looking at
Solomon?

1) The presence of wisdom, no matter how great, will never override our
desires. In Deuteronomy 17, God recorded explicit instructions for future
Israelite kings. They were forbidden from collecting horses (or going to Egypt
to get them), acquiring many wives, or accumulating excessive silver and gold
(vss. 16-17). Despite his great wisdom, Solomon chose to disobey every one
of these instructions (1 Kings 4.26, 10.14-15, 11.3). Because his desire for
wealth, women, and horses was greater than his desire for God, he fell into
sin. From Solomon, we learn that wisdom is not intended to be our chief
pursuit – it is merely a tool designed to lead our hearts to desire and imitate
our Creator above all else.

2) The presence of wisdom, no matter how great, does not make us immune
to unwise influencers. No doubt, the reasons why Solomon fell away from
God are numerous. The primary reason, however, seems clear from 1 Kings
11. We’re explicitly told in 11.3 that the many foreign wives he married
eventually killed his service to God. “When Solomon was old his wives turned
away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord
his God.” Solomon did not turn bad the moment he married his first foreign
wife. Indeed, we’re told in 1 Kings 3 that he married Pharaoh’s daughter
before construction on the temple in Jerusalem even began. It took a very
long time for Solomon to break down – years of conversations, pleadings,
meditations. But because they were his long-term close companions, over
time their influence outweighed his great wisdom.

If God is not our central joy, no amount of godly skill, shrewdness, or
experience can prevent us from becoming fools. May we humbly seek after
the wisdom God can provide, understanding that its’ purpose is to help us
seek God himself. Let’s be careful to keep the divinely inspired words of
Solomon that he himself did not follow – “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for
from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4.23).
– Nathan Combs