The Importance of Godly Discernment: 1 Kings 3:16-28

Show Notes

Episode 554: 
In this episode, we explore the story of King Solomon's wise judgment in 1 Kings 3:16-28. Solomon is faced with a challenging case involving two women claiming to be the mother of the same child. We unpack the brilliance of Solomon's approach, where he proposes to cut the baby in half to reveal the true mother. This story serves as a powerful illustration of wisdom in action, demonstrating how Solomon's discernment not only resolved the immediate conflict but also solidified his reputation as a just and wise leader among the people of Israel.

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You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Hey, everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Bible Guys. We are going to kick off this episode with one of our favorite. Things that I like to do. That's right, right, because because we are dedicated to giving you great news. Yes, and and and now us being you know, both of us quite gifted athletes in our day. Yeah, well yeah, yeah, I'm in. So this is a sports edition. I know that you say that tongue in cheek, but that that is true your Yeah, were you? I was? I was? I was a decent. Yeah so yeah, yeah, and so this is a sports edition of a new segment. Right, So we're doing a sports segment today, and this is incredibly important. We only bring from the finest sources, and of course we think the finest source of any kind of news on the Internet is the Babylon b Yes. Right, so, which is more reliable than most news. Absolutely, you can trust them more. There's more truth in what they write. If you don't know the Babylon Bez a satire website, very very funny, you should look them up anyways, Here's what it says. Here's the article today. This is the sports edition. Referees annoyed as football game keeps interrupting their penalty. Calls, which is accurate. Kansas City, Kansas referees at a recent Chiefs game were reportedly less than thrilled to find that an NFL football game kept interrupting their penalty calls. According to several reps at the game, the teams of players lining up and trying to move the football across the field quote totally messed up their attempts to keep calling random calls from the favorite Patrick Mames. I blame the coaches, always trying to get their players to get another play going, said head referee Chut Brand as he adjusted his inch and a half thick glasses. Nice. Nice, We're all. Busy here trying to invent calls people never even seen before, so that our homie Mames could kick butt by all these loser football players keep getting in the way, really really disrespectful. While fans have tended to take rather dim views of the referees complaints, one source here referred to as quote Patrick Metric poems to protect his identity, claims that the ref's grievance is completely valid. At publishing time, NFL referees had decided to teach those upstart players a real lesson by awarding the next three games to Mahomes. Is a penalty for starting a play that's so good. So, because that was such a quick segment, let me ask you this question. Do you believe I mean, I'm a skeptic. I always had said that from the stage, Yes, but I truly am a skeptic. I'm not sure people understand just how skeptical my brain actually is. But like when I start to see things that really look fishy and they're hard to believe, Like I'm absolutely convinced that things happen. Like you know, when you watch NFL. You're like, there's no way there's a conspiracy, no way that they're trying to control an outcome. You know, there's no way that Patrick Mahomes will slide, you know, and not cross the end zone. He's gonna let the clock run down the last twelve seconds because that would have covered the spread. And by the way, the swing is one billion dollars of bets. But he's sliding. He's not going to be on the take for a million dollars, or the referees want Mahome to win, Mahomes to win because the Chiefs bring in so much momentum with Taylor Swift and all those kind of things. I am actually convinced that there is some of that going on in. His favor for the Chiefs. I'm for Mahomes. Well, I mean not just that. I just think in general the refs are on the take. I think that there's some of that that goes. On, you know, so on an individual basis perhaps, but I don't think for advantage, but more as a fan. I think I think it's impossible for refs not to be fans and to have maybe rose colored glasses for the ours versus the average player, you know that kind. Of like in their hearts, they want to see my home succeeds. They believe he did succeed right, right, right, So I think that there's there's some of that, But to think that there's a conspiracy behind it. The refs just don't get paid enough money. So somebody would have told the world because they would make more money writing a book about it than they would than they ever will in their careers. Yeah right, yeah, So so if they ever if somebody actually broke that in a in a book or in a news thing, they would be so rich and they're not. So you know, man alive when you have the vice president United States turn on a president in what eleven days or something right dere in Watergate, and he was offering to protect everybody, right, So you get the most powerful person in the world offering to protect you, and they roll over on them and then they all go right. Books later, I think it would happen some ref over the one hundred and some odd years that football has been going would have exposed it. Yeah, well it was conspiracy as opposed to just bias. Of course, I believe that. I believe that it's going to happen in some ref that's what you're saying, but I'm saying it's way bigger than that. So like, for instance, it happened for me last year when it was an unlikely comeback. It was the Chiefs, and I remember like they were going to come back, and he was running toward the end zone and there was nobody around him within like fifteen yards and all he had to do was cross the end zone. But he takes a slide on the two yard line. What all he had to do was take a knee on the next drive, right on the next down, right, because he got the first down, and had he just taken two more steps, the industry, the betting industry, would have lost a billion dollars. Well, how many seconds were left in the clock, like twelve? Well that's why. That's why. So he doesn't want to score a touchdown and give the ball back to the other team with top seconds. I do understand that. Yeah, maybe that's the clock management thing there. Maybe I'm wrong then, Yeah. Anyway, all I know is all of our non football fans are like, why are you guys talking about them? That's probably true, that's pubbly true. Yeah, I guess because we read a football thing, right. Yeah, I actually believe that there are conspiracy things. Okay, and my wife gets mad at me. I think that way. He also Chris also has aliens peeking in his window. And I didn't say all that, but I do think government conspiracy. I mean, he sleeps with a moon land. But I'm talking about like I'm talking about like us being sheep and all that. I started buying a lot. Of the whole Roman Empire had that idea of give them, give them bread and games, right, remember that right, freedom, and let them give them some entertainment that they won't overthrow us. Is that what you're saying? Colosseum? So this is these stadiums are colosseums. No, there are gladiators that far. But but yeah, I think some of it's rigged. I really do. Okay, Well, there you go. You have it. Now, if Chris disappears, it's because he said something. He exposed NFL now, and somebody's going to catch you in the afternoon. Put a hood over head through you in a white van. You're just going to disappear. No, I did not say anything about with shove Obama. Let's be clear. No. No, we just got we just got canceled. We just got shut down. I said I did not, Yes, I know I did not. Okay, so it's your transition. Okay, okay. So, speaking of making good calls, no, no, no, oh, yeah, that's that's pretty good. Dang it. Why don't you just do it? That was really good. I can't talk that. No, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. No, we're trying to do bad ones. Speaking of making good calls, Solomon is about to execute a brilliant good call in this scenario, demonstrating how much wisdom he has. Dang it, there you go. That's a good one. I blew it. Good job. No, you, it's you. It's all about you. It's all about me. Let's be honest. Yes you, you do. You see the difference if you've never seen Brian Reagan's comedy special I Walked on the Moon, Yes, you have to watch it. Yea, it still holds up well, it still defines a lot of our interaction with each other. Right, okay, anyways, here we go. Solomon judges wisely in First Kings Chapter three, and we're gonna start with verse sixteen. So he's been sitting on the throne, he's doing all kinds of stuff. God gives him wisdom. And then it says, sometime later, two prostitutes came to the king to have an argument settled, please my Lord. One of them began, This woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a baby while she was with me in the house. Three days later, this woman also had a baby. We were alone, there were only two of us in the house, but her baby died during the night when she rolled over on it. Then she got up in the night and took my son from beside me while I was asleep, and she laid her dead child in my arms and took mine to sleep beside her. In the morning, when I tried to nurse my son, he was dead. But when I looked more closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn't my son at all. Then the other woman interrupted, it certainly was your son, and the living child is mine. No, the first woman said, the living child is mine and the dead one is yours. And so they argued back and forth before the king. Then the king said, let's get the fact straight. Both of you claim the living child is yours, and each says the dead one belongs to the other. All right, bring me a sword. So a sword was brought to the king, and then he said, just cut the living child in two and give half to one woman and half to the other. Then the woman, who was the real mother of the living child and who loved him very much, cried out, oh no, my Lord, give her the child. Please don't kill him. But the other woman said, all right, he'll be neither of ours, neither yours nor mine. Divide in between us. And then the king said, do not kill the child, but give him to the woman who wants him to live, for she is his mother. When all Israel heard the king's decision, the people were in awe of the king, for they saw the wisdom God had given him for rendering justice. That's an eat story. It's also incredibly unorthodox. Yeah, we're not advising, but you keep a sword by your desk. Yeah, but I mean, what a brilliant, absolutely brilliant thing to do. Yeah, how do you sort out what's true? Yeah, So, so as he's listening to their claims, and and back then, you know, there was no footprint on the birth certificate. I'm most likely right, there's no fingerprints, there's no DNA tests. So so back. Then, I'm sure that this kind of thing probably happened more than we would even care to think about, you know, I mean there was there was probably no way for uh uh, you know, think about it. You could probably claim this woman's deranged, she's trying to steal my baby. This is my baby, and nobody around you would know the difference. There's no proof, there's no winds, there's no. Proof, right, you know, so so so yeah, I mean they're They're going back and forth, and this entire time, Solomon's only thinking, Okay, one. Of these is the real mother. What's what's What's a way to discover who the real mother is? So it comes up with this elaborate thing, Uh, you know, something that would just draw out the love of a mother. It's brilliant. Yeah, it was fabulous. Yeah, and so yeah, and so what where's the sermon in here? The sermon in here is that either a, you are going to exercise wisdom and take care of the disputes among your staff and among your church and among your people or your organization, or b. And this is the thing that we all need to hear. If you don't have wisdom, surround yourself with people who have wisdom, because you can see the benefit of wisdom, right, oh man, The benefit of wisdom here is unbelievable. And to have somebody who is able to discern and execute wisdom, it is a priceless thing that we should never overlook. You have to have somebody around you. If you don't have discernment wisdom, then surround yourself with somebody who does. There's so many decisions that are more than just you know, you read this story. You go, wow, he was so smart and the right lady got the baby. Yep, But what you're talking about is the lives of an innocent woman and an innocent child. A kidnapper, right, right, so an actual crime, an innocent mother, and and and the life, the whole life of this child. So if this woman, the wrong woman, had gotten that baby, that baby would have grown up probably in a miserable situation, his whole life. Yeah. Right, there's been a resentment and right, well, wouldn't have never known perhaps or the other way. She's she's already a bad person. She's trying to kidnap him, uh and and all these things. And so it's more than just the moment that the decision needs to be made. It really has uh life impacts on three different people. And instead of of her maybe going on and doing more criminal things. We don't know what she did, but she was exposed as a criminal in that moment. That there's a lot of these things that the kingdom is better and the lives of his people are better. Innocent people get justice, Guilty people find justice, right, And it's more than just a good decision in the moment, right, We could just read this stroying. Wow, he's so smart. But this is a demonstration. This is why people loved him so much. Right when all Israel heard the king's decision, that people were in awe of the king because they saw the wisdom that God had given him for rendering justice. Now it's not only this circumstance. People began to believe Solomon has answers right, it's solidified as leadership. Even more right, David had several coups. Even his generals sometimes turned against him because they would wonder, man, he's a little reckless, and he was. Now he always landed on top, but he was reckless, right, And now they see this stable thinking, this deep wisdom, and it's one of the things that caused his people to love him deeply. They made significant sacrifices for him because they believed in him. They really trusted him. And so it's the life impact of these women and this baby. But it also affected the entire kingdom where they began to go, oh, wow, we've got a good one. We've got a good king. And you know, I think we've seen in our in our nation over the last few presidencies. Our nation doesn't have a lot of trust in our leaders. Right, So the whole nation is unstable, right, Right. When there's a lot of trust in a leader, the nations tend to stabilize, right, because the leader is able to build confidence in the people. And this is what you see in Solomon's reign from here on out, that people sacrifice, that people work extra hard, they give even more of their resources. They're willing to do whatever it takes for the betterment of the kingdom because everything is getting better because they have a great leader. And this is one of those things that establishes that. So I love it. I think it's fantastic. Yeah. So, so, of all the spiritual gifts, wisdom is a spiritual gift. Right, yes, huh yeah. And so there's knowledge, there's wisdom, there's discernment, there's there's those three. Yeah. Right, what is the difference. We've already talked about the difference in knowledge and wisdom. What about discernment? Yeah, So, so I maybe misspoke this a little bit yesterday I lumped wisdom and discernment together. So knowledge is knowing stuff, yeah, facts, right, Right, it's the lowest on this scale. Right. Wisdom is knowing the right thing to do. Discernment is all about the right thing, the right way, with the right people in the right moment, right right. It's Discernment's all about applying wisdom. So discernment has no use apart from wisdom. So that's why wisdom is the principal thing. So is discernment the one that's connected to God hearing from God? Is there a God component to discernment that does not exist with wisdom because wisdom can be either godly or worldly. Wordly wisdom, Yeah, yeah, I think so. I think good question as a spiritual gift. Certainly wisdom is a spiritual gift. I think that all those are God connected as opposed to worldly wisdom and worldly discernment. I think that there are people who are discerning that that are able to put too and two together. Usually highly discerning people have a strong sense of logic, right, which is the science side of it, but then also have this instinct of being able to see through the words being said or the circumstances. Right. There's some people just have that good instinct like that. That's not necessarily the spiritual gift side. But what God does with spiritual gifts is he takes things that would be a normal strength that somebody has, and he says, I'm going to supernaturally enhance that in you as you you know, all of God's if then promises with Solomon, if you choose to do these things, they pour this out on you. And yeah, so the discernment side is in my mind, when you have somebody who has like the gift of prophecy or a word of knowledge as if, I will say that those have discernment kind of gifts to them are supernatural. Yeah. So I've been told in the past, and and it's so funny because there are times where you know, you never you never can rate yourself right. Other people have to rate you right. It's the same thing. When well one Corinthians chapter fourteen says, when it's talking about spiritual gifts, says, the profits are subject to the prophets. That's right, meaning those who have certain gifts are only the only ones that can really affirm it in others. That's right, that's right, that's right. And so yeah, if you have the gifts of teaching, you recognize the gifts of teaching, and then you say, hey, you. Have the gift of teaching, you're a good teacher. Yeah, that's why everybody else might say I like his teaching, right, but somebody with gifted teaching goes, here's why you're a good teacher. This is what makes you a good teacher. That's right. I see you. I see the potential in you as being a great teacher, right right, I see this gift in you. And so spiritual gifts are often affirmed by or should be affirmed by the ones who have those spiritual gifts. Yeah, which is incredibly wise, and it's a great rule of thumb. So wisdom is one of those things you can begin to believe maybe God's given you some wisdom, but it's only affirmed in others. Others will affirm it in you. So here's here's what I would say. There are times in my life where I was I've been told by others and it's been affirmed where I have wisdom. And so it's like, so you know the right thing to do in the moment. I think I have some of that. You know, now, is it incredibly high? I would say it's on the higher end. Maybe I don't think it's as high as some. But then there are times in my life where again this is just where the weird part falls. In. But there are times where I think I have good discernment. But I think that there have been other areas of my life where where there's a gaping hole. I think that's the part that lacks discernment. So I've been told by others who says, who tell us, hey, man, you get good knowledge, you demonstrate great wisdom in a lot of ways, but there are times in your life where you lack discernment, and and I think that that is true for me. Yeah, So that's why. What we can have competing things that can challenge even the spiritual gifts we have sometimes, right, So it's uh, yeah, I can I can see that, I think in all of us and everybody that has So if I ever take spiritual gifts, test wisdom and discernment both come in my top five. Right, So those are both there. But I also found myself making dumb decisions and then later on, look, bang go, I knew better than that, right, but I had some other my heart. I was chasing my heart. I was doing something where I had some kind of competing thing working against me in the moment, and I wound up making a dumb decision. That didn't mean I don't have wisdom and discernment. It just meant in that moment, I didn't surrender to it. I surrendered to another part of my life that pulled me away from wisdom to discernment, which is the dichotomy of Solomon's life. Right, he has the most wisdom of anybody in history, and yet he chooses to marry a thousand women and follows after and begins to make you know, temples for their gods. Yeah, how does he do that? I've always careful to points I followed his heart right. He follow his heart right, and he's the one that says, God, follow your heart, don't follow your heart. Guard your heart. Yeah, she was wise enough to warn us, right, and then he did. It right, don't do what I do. So it's possible to be a godly person didn't know the right answer and still not do it. Yeah. No, I was gonna say, I'm always careful to point out that nobody will ever be wiser than. Solomon, because that's what God says. That God says, nobody, you know, I'm gonna give you wisdom, and nobody nobody has been more wise. Or ever will be. So it's like, wow, what a claim, you know, so so thousands of years ago, He's like, the billions of people that come and go on this earth, this is it. This is the pinnacle. You're looking at it. You know. You mentioned surround yourself with with people with wisdom and discernment, you know. And and I'll tell you a very very quick story. I had a number of years ago an attempted coup in my leadership from a young leader that I was trying to develop. Uh, there was a significant confrontation. He had been doing a bunch of things behind the scenes to pull away a lot of the top leaders and the best leaders. It was all secret. Was his name, I'm not saying at anjec Yeah yeah, yeah, absolutely, yeah, absolutely yeah. So some great key leaders, people that I love deeply turned on me very very hard based on his accusations of this confrontation we had. So we were trying we meet with the elders, and we're going to have this meeting with these families. And I had a friend that I've always felt had some wisdom and discernment. I have friends who go, why is he your friend? Right right? And I'm always like, this guy has a wisdom and a discernment that I don't know that I have. He calls me right before this gathering and he goes, I've had a few conversations with these people, nothing has actually been said. I have a sense and I feel like maybe the Lord is causing me to discern there's a recording. Be very careful what you say. So my wife and I pray about it. We met with a couple of the elders and we prayed about this. God give us wisdom and discernment this moment. I help us not to say the wrong things, bring to remembrance the conversation, help us to be humble. We go into the meeting. About ten minutes into the meeting, they start asking very precise questions when I'm talking in general things because the event happened in the past, right. So we're about fifteen twenty minutes in and the Lord just said there is a recording. And I said, let me pause before I answer that question. Is there a recording? And if there is, have you heard it? And the room went dead and they got red in the face. Nobody want to answer. It was forty five seconds of silence, and finally the guy who was coming after the heart had said, h yes, there is a recording I have heard it. I went, oh, okay, so this is an entrapment meeting. Right. It pivoted, So my entire board wasn't sure. Because we trusted those other great leaders. My entire board immediately came over to my side, yepiate, and it established. And this was early in my leadership at Heritage Church. Came over and it was because of my friend who has this discernment that I don't have. I have discernment, but not on his level. And he rescued me and rescued our leadership. And I believe the church in general, and that's the value of having somebody with the spiritual gift of wisdom and discernment, you know, in your life. So I was in pain. So I also have wisdom and discernment. Right, That's been a firm minum many times. But I was in pain, and I was a little fearful in this. I wasn't at my peak performance. But I was surrounded with people who do have wisdom and discernment. They could speak it in my life, and I trusted them in a moment. And then because I had an awareness maybe there's something out there, then I treaded lightly and then discovered there was, and it rescued us. And so there's tremendous wisdom and hanging out with people with wisdom and then having friends that have discernment and those kinds of things. And the only way that you can prove those is by the proof of their life, right right, And uh so you don't just automatically assume why they said a smart thing that must be true. What I see as the trajectory of this guy's life, and at least my experience with him, is he continues to grow in wisdom and a discernment and following God, leaning into his words. And he brought me several scriptures in that same conversation to say, you know, be strong and courageous and then also to a soft answer, turns away wrath. He brought me a few verses that he just felt like God was telling him in that moment. So he affirmed his own wisdom and discernment with scripture in my life and it wound up being true. That's great, Yeah, that powerful. Yeah, that's very powerful. Yeah, well hey let that be Let that be a listen for all of us, right, need wise people in your life, wise people in your life, and let's listen to them even when we don't feel like we understand it fully. Just trust, trust in the gift. Yeah, so all right, well, hey that's our time, so we will see you next time on the Bible Gush