Categories: Beyond
      Date: Nov 14, 2008
     Title: A Heart of Understanding

Jackson: (Standing alone in the hallway crying) Aaahhh!
Parent: (Lovingly approaching the situation) What’s happened, honey?
Jackson: He took my cowboy!
Parent: (Wondering who, in a house of seven boys, “he” might be)
Who took your cowboy?  {$pullquote}

Jackson: He did!
Parent: (Still wondering) Who’s he?
Jackson: Jonathan!

Parent: (Seeing big brother Jonathan in the next room) Jonathan, did you take his cowboy?
Jonathan: (Casually, without guilt, and…yet, holding a cowboy) No.
Parent: (Not sure whom to believe) You didn’t take his cowboy from him?
Jonathan: No, I didn’t.
Jackson: (Still adamant) Yes, you did!
Parent: (Settling the boys down and beginning to wonder if he will ever really know what happened) Boys, what happened here?
Jackson: (Obviously not making this up) Jonathan has my cowboy.
Parent: (Starting to wonder if toy cowboys are a good idea) Jackson, he said he didn’t take your cowboy.
Jackson: (Obviously not lying) But, look! There it is in his hand!
Parent: (Seeing Jackson’s point) Jonathan, where did you get that cowboy?
Jonathan: (Eyes wandering around the room uncomfortably) I… found it.
Parent: (Seeing a possible end to the court case, and remembering hating debate class) Jonathan, where did you find it?
Jonathan: I found it on the floor.
Parent: (Thinking he could spend the rest of his life having this conversation) Where on the floor?
Jonathan: (Still looking a bit uneasy, but truthful) Next to Jackson.
Parent: (Wondering if toy cowboys are biodegradable) Next to Jackson? Was Jackson playing with it?
Jonathan: (Still looking truthful, but with a note of creativity in his eye that makes a parent nervous) No.
Parent: Jackson, were you playing with the toy?
Jackson: No, I wasn’t.

As a parent, have you ever felt unequal to the task? Maybe you have felt like calling in the professionals. Solomon felt inadequate enough to say that he didn’t even “know how to come out or go in.” And he was the king!

When Solomon first became king of Israel, his greatest strength was the knowledge of his weakness. Admitting his inadequacy and asking his Creator for a heart of understanding, Solomon humbled himself before God and received the desire of his heart and more. God not only made Solomon the wisest man in history but also one of the most prosperous.

The older my children become, the more I appreciate Solomon’s request of God. I started my parenting/homeschooling experience thirteen years ago as most do: confident, calm, and completely in control. I had learned what not to do from the failures of others and I was going to avoid all of those pitfalls. My children were going to toe the line. Sound familiar? The new king of Israel—riding the wave of God’s love for his father David—could have asked for anything, but he didn’t. When given the chance to answer God’s question, Solomon asked God for “an understanding heart to judge your people.”

Wisdom from Above

If I have ever needed wisdom, I need it to be able to judge wisely among my children and to demonstrate wisdom so they will learn to be wise (Proverbs 13:20). Today, wisdom from above seems as rare as a precious jewel, but it is as readily available as a prayer asked in faith. God actually said through his servant in James 1:5–6, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting” (NKJV). Have you asked God for wisdom in rearing your children? Have you asked in faith, not doubting?

If you have not heard us say it before, please hear it now. The education of your children and the discipleship of your children are one and the same. I am not saying that you only teach your children the Bible, but I am saying that when you teach your children to read, calculate, or deduce, you are discipling them in the things of God and imparting Wisdom from Above.

Solomon himself said in Proverbs 8:33, “Hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not.”