The WISDOM of a Mother
Proverbs 3:5-7

As you have probably figured out by now we have a SPECIAL GUEST in our audience this morning. This young lady was born on this day 90 years ago. Herbert Hoover was the President of the United States at that time. She is a mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and a sincere friend. All of us here wearing the white shirts are the various units of my mom and dad.
We as mom’s family would like to acknowledge all the spit she produced to wash dirty faces, all the old gum she held in her hands, all the noses she wiped, & all the bloody knees she 'made well' with her kisses.
We appreciate all the times she made us finish something we said we couldn't do, and continued to believe in us, even when we ourselves had given up.
There is a story told of A husband and a wife in their 60s who were coming up on their 40th wedding anniversary. Knowing his wife loved antiques the man bought a beautiful old brass oil lamp for his wife. When she unwrapped it a genie appeared. He thanked them and gave them each one wish. The wife wished for an all expense paid first class around the world cruise with her husband. Shazam. It took place. Instantly she was presented with the tickets for the entire journey plus expensive side trips dinners shopping etc.

The husband however wished he had a female companion who was 30 years younger than him. Shazam. Instantly he became 90 years old.

If God gave you just one wish, what would it be? I know I would probably wish to get a thousand wishes, but assuming that was not the case what would you wish for?

Solomon was given kind of that choice,
the Lord appears to Solomon in a dream. He offers him whatever he asks for.
In 1 Kings 3:5-9 and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said, Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?”

You notice it says, ask for whatever you want and I will give it to you. What would you want if you were given whatever your heart's desire as they say? What would you want? Gold? Glory?
Greatness? Pleasure? Do you look for fame and fortune?

Power and prosperity or longevity maybe? Personal looks? None of this was the case for Solomon. What did Solomon ask for? Wisdom.
Why you may ask
or you might ask what is wisdom?
Proverbs 3:5 – 7 says Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall [a]direct your paths.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the LORD and depart from evil.

And Proverbs 9:10 says 10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
Then in the new testament we read in James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you”

The researched definition of Wisdom, is the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight.

A philosopher Cicero said the function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil. Good, basic.

Robert Green Ingersoll says it is a thousand times better to have common sense without education
than to have education without common sense.

Frank Whitmore said the biggest difficulty with mankind today is that our knowledge has increased so much faster than our wisdom.
Lets think about that for a moment. Knowledge is increasing so fast, wisdom hasn't caught up with it.
Then We can think about what we learned from our mothers: 😊
We learned foresight: "Make sure you wear clean underwear in case you’re in an accident."
We learned logic: "If you fall out of that tree and break your neck, don’t come crying to me."
We learned religion: "You better pray that comes out of the carpet."
We learned about time travel: "If you don’t straighten up, I’m going to knock you into the middle of next week!"
AND, we learned about the circle of life: "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."

Socrates says the only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
That is where we are as Christians, isn't it?
By ourselves, what do we know about the creation of Earth? Nothing.
We realize true wisdom is being aware that we aren’t the ones in charge. True wisdom starts with “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”.

In the Old Testament we have examples of how God acted towards man. We see the history of the human race. We see relationships, how family got started. The goods and bads, the dos and don'ts and then we are offered Jesus coming down from heaven to be an example for each one of us.

John 3:16 tells us... 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
We see that God loved the nature of Solomon's request from what we read in (1 Kings 3: 5 – 9)

I now want to look at what it says in verses 10 - 14 “And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee
And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.”

We see Solomon's request was not selfish nor self-centered. It showed both reverence for God and respect for God's people. Isn't that what God asks of our lives today? Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these other things shall be added unto you. Notice that Solomon asked not personal things. He asked for God's guidance. He asked for the wisdom to serve God.

Notice that Solomon took that seek ye first approach that Jesus talks about.

Then as you continue to read 1st Kings 3 : 16-20. We read of the story of the 2 mothers and Solomon must decide who is telling the truth.
The real mother knew the unique characteristics of her son. She knew the color of his eyes. She knew probably the way he smelled. She knew the softness of his skin by touch. So it is with mothers. We know that our mothers know everything about us. Think about our heavenly father and how much more God knows.
He knows our thoughts He knows our intentions.
we know that He knows the number of hair on our head, AND
for some of us that hair is probably easier to count than others. But we know that the Bible says He knows the very hairs on our heads. He knows. He’s the creator of all.
Matthew 6:26 – 34
26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one [a]cubit to his[b]stature?
28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not [c]arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Jesus says Our Heavenly Father will care for you more than all of these.

Do you ever wake up in the morning and ponder what is the purpose of life?
Your boss might ask you, what is your purpose of being here?
He's referring to the job but you can think about that in a whole universal sense. What is our purpose of being here today. Why are we here?
We have Solomon making his judgment. Here is a man who prayed for wisdom. He asked for wisdom. He made a judgment this was just one of the judgments that happened in his life. The people marveled at and realized and notice that his wisdom came from God. It came from heaven. It wasn't just Solomon ...it was directed by God.

now I would like to read from Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 what does he say? This wise man which we believe may be viewed as the wisest man in the world because he was directed by God says what?
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.
He's basically says I've pondered my whole life. And if I leave one last final statement with you it is this: the conclusion of the whole matter is fear God and keep his commandments. For this is the whole duty of man.

Then
It makes me think about us as Christians. What shall we give in exchange to our very own souls?

When you ask what is my purpose? Today why are we here? Solomon a wise man who asked for God's wisdom says fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man for God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it is good or whether it be evil .
As Christians we can obtain wisdom by reading God's word. God is the one that is in control and may we follow that example that love that Solomon had, the love that that mother had for her family. May we have that love for our family. May we have that love for our Christian family. May we have love for those that we've come in contact with.

In Matthew 7:24-27 it says 24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

Those of us in the white shirts today have been blessed.
Mom has taught us ... not only by her words BUT also by her actions. Mom is an example of someone who walks by faith not only to us as her personal family, BUT to you as her church family. I would be amiss if I didn’t mention my mom’s 2 great loves who are unable to be here today ... my dad and my oldest brother Ron. But they celebrate with us today in our hearts.
The wisdom of this Hull family.....
Juanita Lavern Fidler Hull’s purpose in life was to be our mom and to be a Christian role model for each one of us.
Lo I am with you always even until the end of earth. We think about what we have. Today if we are in a need of either taking the steps to become a Christian or if we have taken those steps and fallen a way and need the prayers of the congregation whatever our need is we have the chance to make it right as we stand and sing our song of invitation.