Saturday of Week 4 in Ordinary Time
1 Kgs 3:4-13
Mk 6:30-34
Give your servant a heart to discern between good and evil...
We are told in the Christian life to “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). While this maxim or rule is strongly advised if one wishes to follow God, its practical application is truly a call requiring much physical, mental and spiritual tussling. Certainly, most of us on this pilgrim journey have experienced this struggle. But I believe this day’s scripture can really shed light on how and why we must strive to do just this.
King Solomon, son of King David, ancestor of our Lord and Saviour Jesus, points us in this most sacred direction. Personally, I have never strung this thread together until I pondered the readings today (1 Kings 3:4-13; Psalm 119:10-14; Mark 6:30-34) in their woven tapestry. The ancestry of Jesus through the mention of David and Solomon in these readings revealed to me that wisdom is truly at the heart of life and love.
In the book of first Kings, Solomon dreams and God spoke to him, affirming and praising him as a faithful servant. God is pleased to offer him the desires of his heart: “Ask something of me and I will give it to you.” Solomon, in his humility and recognition of his privilege as descendent of the favoured King David, asked little of the Lord, except to grant him a heart of wisdom. In fact, Solomon admitted that he is just a mere youth lacking in knowledge of leading so great a kingdom that he had inherited from David. Though young, Solomon sincerely sought first to serve God and his kingdom.
“Your servant finds himself in the midst of this people of yours whom you have chosen,
a people so many its number cannot be counted or reckoned.
Give your servant a heart to understand
how to discern between good and evil,
for who could govern this people of yours that is so great?”
Solomon sought God’s kingdom first. Solomon’s demonstration of his young kingship belies a wisdom far deeper than his age — he was not beguiled by the honour and power he now held, but from such a seat of authority, his true heart is revealed — that of a servant-leader. His one desire was to serve God well by being a just and benevolent steward of God’s people. He understood that he was just one man, though anointed, who was charged with leading a great people. Hence, he knew rightly, that a wise heart was key to leading this household of God.
Solomon sought God’s favour first. God heard; God looked straight into his heart; God saw and knew.
“Since you have asked for this –
and not asked for long life for yourself or riches,
or the life of your enemies,
but have asked for a discerning judgment for yourself, here and now I do what you ask.
I give you a heart wise and shrewd
as none before you has had and none will have after you.” … and so God granted him the grace of a wisdom so wide and deep and unparalleled from ages past and to come.
Even more generous, because God saw into Solomon’s sincere and wise heart, he knew, Solomon was not pretending to desire these things for personal power and glory — thus God further entrusted him with more gifts which he did not ask for… “What you have not asked I shall give you too: such riches and glory as no other king ever had.”
Indeed, this is precisely preached in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in the gospel of Matthew: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you”.
Therefore, it is no surprise to us that King Solomon was indeed blessed throughout his life from the ancient times up to today, where we still meditate on his words as recorded in the book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Wisdom (Songs of Solomon). This is the fulfilment of God’s prophecy upon Solomon’s life.
I suppose that today, it may be increasingly challenging to really live and think like Solomon. In fact, with everything around us moving at such breakneck speed, we are often not able to steal away the time to truly and quietly ponder and discern what the will of God for our life is. Can we really expect to arrive at such profound wisdom when we are always doom-scrolling or channel-surfing on Netflix, Amazon Prime or swiping left-right-up-down on any of the other subscriptions we hold? Yet, we will surely come face-to-face with our sore lack of wisdom when we hit a wall.
Well, Jesus in the gospel reading today in Mark 6:30-34 beckons us to come away with him: “You must come away to some lonely place and rest for a while.” Scripture says that a multitude of people were coming and going such that Jesus and his disciples had no opportunity even to eat. What did they do then? So, they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place. Where can this deserted place be for you? It may be a physical location, or it may just be found in logging off from your devices and silence in a simple walk home, or at a park. Something small, nothing complicated.
Just you, seeking Him.
Seek Jesus first in your quiet place today. Find a little opening. Be a bit more generous with Him than you are with the many clamouring slots in your work and social schedule. May you find your store of God-given wisdom in that pocket, for a start, and then… tell him what it is you truly desire. Put Jesus up there in that list and ask him to help you do so, then, perhaps, surely — as he promised Solomon, all the other things that you seek shall be added to you. You don’t even need to ask. For Wisdom is truly at the Heart of Life and Love.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Debbie Loo)
Prayer: Lord, I want to carve out a pocket (at least) or a portal of time to spend in quietude with you. Help me desire to craft this moment for you so that I can seek your face and seek your heart — and in so doing, find the truth in my own heart too.
Thanksgiving: God, thank you for being a part of my history, my present moment, and my future too. I know that you were there in my life even before I knew you. Thank you for giving me a heart like mine and help form it to be more like yours.
OXYGEN 
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