Lesson:
When King David died, his son Solomon became king. Solomon prayed to
the Lord and asked Him for wisdom and understanding of the people he was
to reign over. Wisdom is when a person knows how to say, and do
good things.
God was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom rather than ask for riches
and fame God then told him that He would give him a wise mind as well
as riches and honour, so that no other king would ever compare with
Solomon. God did this and King Solomon became famous for his
wisdom
One Living Child:
One day two women appeared before King Solomon. The first woman
told him that she and the other woman lived in the same house.
Both given birth to a child. However, the other woman's
child died and during the night she had taken her dead child and swopped
it for the living child of the first woman. She was now claiming
the first woman's child as her own.
The second woman denied this, saying that the living child was hers.
It was hard to see how this could be settled, as there was no one
who could tell the truth of the situation.
Cut the Child in Half:
King Solomon thought for a while and finally said, "Bring me a sword."
So a sword was brought to the king and he said, "Now, cut the the
living child in two and give half to each woman." The first
woman was horrified and cried out to the king, "Oh, my lord, give her
the living child and don't kill it." But, the other woman said,
"Then it won't be either mine nor yours, so divide it!"
Wise King Solomon spoke again, and said, "Give the living child to the
first woman and don't kill it, for she is its mother!" All Israel
heard of this judgment and knew that the wisdom of God was in their
king, and that he had given a wise decision. For what true mother
would want her own child to die rather than to live?
Growing into Wise People:
If we let God teach us, we too can grow up to be wise people. Wise
people do good things and avoid doing wrong things. Even young
children can know the difference between good and wrong things.
What wrong things do you do? (
Let the children respond).
And what are some good things that you could do? Should we always
choose to do right or wrong things?
No, then how can we choose to do good things? Yes, you can ask God
to help you to choose to do good things, and to say "No" to doing wrong
things. If you keep on doing this as you grow up, then with God's
help you will become a wise person.
God bless!