The most important thing? Make sure that the most important thing remains the most important thing.
First things first, they say. How would you begin a book about the most important Person in the universe moving into town, and the “exceedingly magnificent” home to be built for Him (1 Chron 22:5)? Perhaps you would ask the man tasked to build it what was the most important thing in life. After all, we can’t be expected to work what’s right if we don’t want what’s right. Since the temple wasn’t yet constructed, “Solomon, and all the assembly with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon” (2 Chron 1:3). There on the bronze altar, Solomon “offered a thousand burnt offerings” (v 6) to the Lord. Now the momentous decision comes. Solomon, name the one thing you would want from God if He offered you anything. Which poses the question: If God met with you and said, “Ask! What shall I give you?” (v 7), what would your answer be? This section of Scripture (vv 1-12) does heart surgery on us all, exposing our innermost thoughts. And this wasn’t hypothetical—it was really going to be provided! The young king, on the spur of the moment, replied, “You have shown great mercy to David my father, and have made me king in his place.…Now give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this great people of Yours?” (vv 8, 10). If he was working for God, he certainly would need wisdom and knowledge. Knowledge is the raw material, the information necessary to make good decisions. But wisdom is the practical way we arrange, assess, and apply knowledge to particular situations. Likewise, Paul prayed that we “may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” (Col 1:9). How else can we hope to accomplish His good will?