Are You Wiser Than Solomon?

Kim Levings
Jun 23
4 min read

Imagine God appeared to you tonight in a dream and said, "Ask for whatever you want, and I will give it to you."

What would you ask for?

That's exactly what happened to a young king named Solomon. And before we admire his answer — the answer that made him famous as the wisest leader in the Bible — we need to be honest about who was actually asking.

The King Before the Wisdom

We tend to picture Solomon the way Sunday school flannel boards do: serene, golden, already wise. But read 1 Kings 1–2 before you get to the famous dream in chapter 3, and you meet a very different man.

This is a king who:

Secured his throne through political assassination. To eliminate rivals, Solomon had his older half-brother Adonijah executed, along with army commander Joab and Shimei, the man who had once cursed his father, David.
Treated the nation's land as his personal asset. He gave away twenty cities in Galilee to King Hiram of Tyre to cover the cost of his building projects — sacred, inherited territory handed over like a business transaction.
Made unwise alliances for political gain. Early in his reign he married Pharaoh's daughter to cement a foreign alliance, a practice God had explicitly warned against because it would pull Israel's heart away from full devotion to Him.
Practiced partial obedience. Before he ever broke ground on the Temple, he spent years building an extravagant palace for himself. He also continued worshipping at unauthorized "high places," sidestepping the centralized worship God had commanded.

This is the man God shows up for. Not a finished product. Not someone who had earned it. A flawed, politically ruthless, partially obedient young king.

If you've ever felt unqualified to lead — too much baggage, too many compromises behind you, too far from "having it together,” -- you're in good company. Solomon's wisdom didn't come after he cleaned himself up. It came in the middle of the mess.

God's Strange Opening Move

Here's what should really get our attention: when God appears to Solomon in that dream at Gibeon, He doesn't open with a correction.

He doesn't mention Adonijah. He doesn't bring up the cities given away, the foreign wife, or the high places. He simply says, "Ask what I shall give you" (1 Kings 3:5).

No lecture. No prerequisite. Just an open door.

That is an example of God’s overwhelming grace. It tells us something about how God deals with leaders who are still very much under construction — He doesn't wait for us to qualify ourselves before He invites us into relationship and purpose. He meets us where we are and asks what's on our heart.

The God of "Moreover"

Solomon's response is the part we usually focus on — he asks not for wealth, long life, or the defeat of his enemies, but for "an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil" (1 Kings 3:9).

God's reaction is worth reflecting on. Because Solomon asked rightly, God doesn't just grant the request — He goes further:

"I now do according to your word... I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor..." (1 Kings 3:13)

I give you also. Moreover. On top of what you asked for.

That's the heart of a generous Father — not a transactional God who gives exactly what's requested and nothing more, but One who delights in exceeding the ask when the ask itself is rightly aligned with Him. (As a recipient of many things I didn’t ask for, nor realize I needed, I can identify with the joy of having God give me what He knows I need.)

Three Lessons for Leaders

1. Don't try to lead without the Lord — obedience is always first. Solomon's later downfall (multiplying wives, horses, and wealth in direct violation of God's instructions for kings) shows what happens when wisdom is treated as a possession rather than a posture. Wisdom received doesn't replace ongoing obedience. It depends on it.

2. Recognize your weaknesses and ask for help. Solomon's request itself was an admission: I don't have what I need to lead well. Pride says, "I've got this." Wisdom says, "I need help governing this organization, this team, this decision." Pride precedes the fall — humility precedes the faithfulness of God.

3. Ask for what you want. As a coach, I regularly remind people to actually name what they want. So many leaders dance around it, hedge it, or assume it's wrong to want anything specific. (Leaders with a high level of competence and confidence, in particular, struggle to ask for help!) Solomon didn't hedge. He named exactly what he needed. In our relationship with God, we're invited to do the same — to be specific, to ask boldly, and to wrap that boldness in humility and obedience rather than entitlement.

What "Wise and Discerning" Looks Like in Your Business

Solomon didn't ask for information. He asked for a heart that could discern — and that distinction matters enormously for leadership.

Information tells you what's true. Discernment tells you what to do with it. You can have access to every market report, every piece of data, every best-practice framework, and still make the wrong call if your heart isn't postured rightly.

A "wise and discerning heart" in business isn't a personality trait or a leadership technique you pick up at a conference. It's the overflow of a life where God is genuinely at the center. When your relationship with Him is real and current, that relationship shapes the decisions, the intentions behind them, and the outcomes that follow — not because you've memorized the right principles, but because your heart has been formed by the right Source.

That's the difference between a leader who manages well and a leader who leads wisely.

So — Are You Wiser Than Solomon?

Probably not, if we measure by outcome. But you don't need to be wiser than Solomon. You need to be as honest as he was at that moment at Gibeon — honest about what you lack, and bold enough to ask the One who freely gives what you ask for plus "moreover."