Ch4: Episode 3: The Queen of Sheba: A Quest for Divine Wisdom

0:00 Welcome back to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast. I'm your host Connie Morris, and today we are in episode 3, Queen of Sheba. And we will explore the story of Queen of Sheba from 2 Chronicles 9, verses 1-12. This episode highlights the pursuit of wisdom and the recognition of divine truth. So if you are available and you have your Bible, so let's find Second Chronicles chapter nine. I'm using the NIV translation. You can use your favorite translation and we'll see the story of Queen Latifah.

0:45 I don't know, I was thinking of Queen Latifah. Queen Latifah ain't got nothing on Queen of Sheba. Queen of Sheba. We still are in Chapter 4, What's in Your Hands? From the Simple to the Supernatural. I'm giving you time to find 2 Chronicles 9. Verses 1 through 12. Let's see what Queen of Sheba has in her hands. Verse 1. When the Queen of Sheba heard of Solomon's fame, she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions.

1:26 Arriving with a very great caravan with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones. She came to Solomon and talked with him about all she had on her mind. Solomon answered all her questions. Nothing was too hard for him to explain to her. When the queen of Sheba saw the wisdom of Solomon, as well as the palace he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, the cupbearers in their robes, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed.

2:19 Verse 5. She said to the king. How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom. Praise be to the Lord your God who has delighted in you and placed you on his throne as king to rule for the Lord your God.

3:07 Because of the love of your God for Israel and his desire to uphold them forever, he has made you king over them to maintain justice and righteousness. She gave the king 120 talons of gold, large quantities of spices, and precious stones. There had never been such spices as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. The servant of Hiram and the servant of Solomon brought gold from Ophir. They also brought algonwood and precious stones.

3:49 The king used the algonwood to make steps for the temple of the Lord and for the royal palace, and to make harps and lyres for the musicians. Nothing like them had ever been seen in Judah. King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for. She gave her more than she had brought to him. Then she left and returned to her own country. What a meeting that was. She had a meeting and had all her questions answered.

4:30 Jesus referred to Queen of Sheba who traveled to the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Her journey signified a profound quest for truth and understanding. In Matthew 12, 42, that's where Jesus referred to the Queen of Sheba as the Queen of South. And then it says.

5:25 42 to see what Jesus said. about the queen of the south. I'm quoting Jesus, and we need to see what Jesus says. Matthew 12, 42. All righty, I'm looking it up, 42. It says, the queen of the south will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemned it, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, And now something greater than Solomon is here That something greater is who? Is Jesus So we need to rise and listen to the wisdom of Jesus What's the historical content of the story of the Queen of Sheba? The Queen of Sheba.

6:13 Also known as the Queen of the South, which is in Matthew 12, 42, was a powerful and wealthy monarch who ruled the kingdom of Sheba. Come on now, the Queen of Sheba, the kingdom of Sheba, likely located in modern-day Yemen or Ethiopia. So that tells me that she was a woman of color. Her visit to Solomon is recorded in 1 Kings 10, chapter 10, verses 1-13, and we read in 2 Chronicles 9, verses 1-12, and also in Matthew 12.

6:53 Verses 1-42. She came to test Solomon with hard questions and was impressed by his wisdom, wealth, and splendor of his kingdom. So she came in there. She said she heard some stuff, but when she saw it, she was more amazed. Not amazed, but overwhelmed at how his house, the food, his servants, his cupbearers, what they were wearing, how they were, what they were wearing, how they just, what they, while they performed in front of the king. Everything was just immaculate. Just how it should be at the house of God, right? Everything should be in order.

7:40 Everyone should be doing their part. People should come to your place of worship or to your house or to wherever you live, even in your office. Simple things. They should say, wow, this is where the presence of the Lord is. And then it says the queen, what does she give, though? What does she have in her hand? She didn't give no light whatsoever. She didn't come with a couple bars of gold. She came with 120 talents. So she came with a caravan of gifts to give to Solomon for the wisdom of God through Solomon.

8:22 And we have access to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And she asked for 10% in offerings. Let's move on. The queen's journey was significant because it demonstrates her desire for wisdom and understanding, transcending her own royal status and wealth. Come on now. She was the queen and she went to the king with all she had in her hands to get the wisdom of God. Her willingness to travel great distances to seek Solomon's wisdom highlights the value she placed on divine insights and knowledge her stuff didn't her stuff can buy her divine wisdom and insight her stuff her goal her talents all her special things that she had was not enough to satisfy her So she packed it all up Not all of it I bet But most of it To come to give it as an offering To Jesus through Solomon And to ask the hard questions about The Lord, his God, Sometimes it's just not enough To have all the stuff Sometimes you just need Jesus Sometimes you just need Jesus.

9:52 Sometimes you just need Jesus Solomon known for his God-given wisdom was sought after by many for his counsel and judgment his wisdom was a testament to God's blessing and favor upon him as king the interaction between Solomon and queen of the queen of Sheba illustrates the far-reaching impact of God's wisdom bestowed upon his chosen leaders, that his name went around the world. Remember, well, we have to go there. Solomon prayed and that he wanted wisdom and God gave him wisdom that reached around the world.

10:34 So far, they reached to this queen of Sheba who said she came from Yemen or Ethiopia. Right. Traveled a long ways and probably as he was traveling, writing down questions. So when she got before the presence of the king, presence of the king, that she was ready to ask the hard questions. I think I mentioned that on the podcast that when we get before the king, Jesus, that we should have a Q&A book that we can spend some Q&A time with the Lord to gather some wisdom, some knowledge, some understanding. So we can be able to follow his instructions precisely, right?

11:16 So that we can walk in his wisdom, so that we can have the simple to the supernatural. I wonder what her life was like afterwards, after she gave what she had in her hands. I wonder how God blessed this queen, because she did not give out no chump change. She gave it all so much so that it went to build the temple for the Lord So let's talk about the queen's pursuit of wisdom and her emotional state and intellectual state The Queen of Sheba pursuit of wisdom reflects a deep intellectual curiosity and a desire to gain understanding beyond her own knowledge and experience.

12:12 Remember she was a queen so she could have gathered she could have sent her her crew or boys they led her team ahead to say you know can we send my top 10 over here to Solomon's house go check him out take these lists of questions with you and ask him and then bring it back no No, no, no, no, no. She went on her own. She probably handpicked what was going to go in that basket, in that caravan over there on that trip. And she rolled over there and spent time in his presence. Oh, that's good. In the king's presence to get direct answers from the king.

12:57 Oh, how many times do we spend time before the king? and get direct answers from our King Jesus. Mm. He said, she said that pursuit of wisdom reflected deep intellectual curse. She wanted to know, she didn't know Jesus apparently, but she got to know so much. So that think about it, that Jesus mentions her. So apparently she got to know Jesus. Oh, she got to know Jesus through Solomon's life. Do people get to know Jesus through your life? What are people saying about you?

13:40 We're still talking about what do we have in our hands from the simple to the supernatural. Do you represent Jesus with your life? Can Jesus bless you? Can he trust you? The queen of Sheba quest for wisdom led her to recognize and honor the divine source of Solomon's insight she acknowledged her she acknowledged the greatness of Solomon's God oh and brought lavish gifts as a sign of respect and admiration do people honor your God through you by what you say, what you do, how you live your life.

14:25 Now, this is not a bit of criticism. It's just kind of a thought that I'm having out loud. Remember, it comes to the preacher first. Remember, Jesus mentions Queen of Sheba. Is Jesus mentioning your name in heaven? Her quest for wisdom led her to recognize and honor the divine source of Solomon. Women, what are we doing to honor God so that God can mention our name? Are they coming to us for the wisdom of Jesus? Are we leading them to Jesus or does our life lead them away from Jesus? Do they frown at our Jesus? Do they mock our Jesus because of our lie?

15:12 Do they laugh in our face because of Jesus, because of the way that we live. Jesus refers to the Queen of Sheba to emphasize the importance of seeking and valuing divine wisdom. Her action serves as a contrast to those who dismiss his teaching. The Bible tells us that if we ask for wisdom, that he would give it to us liberally. I mean, he would give us so much wisdom that we would not be able to do it. We can have it. Just like the, and it's like we can ask for it and we will get it. This queen of Sheba traveled many miles from Yemen or Ethiopia to Israel.

15:57 Seems like not that far away these days that we can catch a flight. But she had a caravan. She had a crew. And she didn't just stay there one day. I don't know. I'm probably doing a little research now. I wonder how long she stayed over at Solomon's Castle. Her actions serve as a contrast to those who dismiss his teaching or mock Jesus or mock your Lord or laugh at you because you still believe in the God. This story encourages us to seek God's wisdom earnestly, recognizing that proper understanding comes from him.

16:37 So this really encourages me that, you know, how much, how bad do you want it? This lady, the queen, the queen, the queen came from a distance to seek what she heard about Solomon. Now, she's a queen and she could, like I said, she could have sent her crew to go check it out. But no, she came in person. And then one translation said that when she saw how Solomon lived, that she fainted. It was that that she fainted.

17:18 So let's talk about the gifts she gave. The gifts brought by the Queen of Sheba symbolize honor, respect, and the recognition of Solomon's divine wisdom. They also reflect her gratitude for the insights she gained. So she gave what it was worth. She said, I'm not going to just bring no chump change. Load this up, folks. It probably took a couple of days. Wait a minute. We got to bring that. Just empty out this. Bring everything that we need to do to get the divine wisdom from Solomon, from his God. Because God has really blessed him.

17:58 Because some things you can't buy with money. How many of you know that? Some things you can't buy with money. And you can't buy divine wisdom that only comes from above with money. You can't buy favor that only comes from above with money. Another one that we take another example in the Bible. Remember the Magi that brought gifts to Jesus? Those gifts that they brought, and they always have the three little gifts. They brought many more gifts than that. And those gifts reflected that same honor and recognition of divine significance.

18:42 Both instances showed how seeking and acknowledging divine wisdom leads to an act of reverence and worship. So powerful. It's what we give to God and what it means from us. You know, that trip that she made, I wonder what she was thinking when she was writing. You know, she made a special effort. effort to go. It's like making a special effort to go to church. People don't seem to go to church anymore. They watch it from their phone, from their iPad. Nothing wrong with watching it from your phone or your iPad, but it does take a special effort to get out of your house, to get in your car, to go sit in a church service, to worship God in the sanctuary.

19:34 Yeah. So it does take a special effort. And there's something that happens in the sanctuary. You know, something happens where God shows up in the sanctuary. He shows up on, you know, online too. So I'm not the one to say that's not right, but something special happens, happened when Queen of Sheba took that special effort to get to Solomon's wisdom. You know, You know, just something special happens when you make that special effort. Let's talk about faith and obedience. The Queen of Sheba willingly, willingness to seek Solomon's wisdom, despite the challenges of her journey, reflects her faith in the value of divine insight.

20:23 So let's just say that, you know, back in the biblical days, She's riding down the road with all that money. I mean, it's like she did a bank transfer, you know, where none of the money, you know, you can do a bank transfer, write a check or something. No, she had that in cash money, just traveling down the road, miles and miles down the road to give it to him in billions of gold, you know, valuable and precious stones. Risking her life, risking her cruel life for this divine insight.

21:03 You don't think God blessed her? The Bible constantly encourages the pursuit of wisdom, promising that those who seek it will find it. James, we talk about that. Let's look it up in Proverbs. Proverbs 2, 1-6. Let's look that up. We're talking a lot about it. Let's see what we get when we seek wisdom. Proverbs 2, 1-6. Yeah, I'm going to still stay in the NIV. I'm just going to read it. It says, The Moral Benefits of Wisdom is the title. It says, My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding.

21:50 Indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as a hidden treasure, Then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Wow. For the Lord gives wisdom. From his mouth comes knowledge and understanding. That's powerful. You get the fear of the Lord and find knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom. From his mouth comes understanding. That's the power of wisdom. The Queen's story illustrates the reward of diligently seeking God's wisdom.

22:34 I'm going to give those verses again in case I said them too fast. James 1.5 and Proverbs 2.1-6. 1-6 has a lot of commas, so it reads as one verse, chapter 1-6. So enjoy that. take it from memory because wisdom gives you knowledge and understanding. How do we apply what we just heard? From the Queen of Sheba into our practical application for life. Number one, reflect on your resources. Take a moment to assess what you have, skills, talents, time, or even your financial resources.

23:20 Nothing is too small for God to use. So it says, each of you use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace. So use what you have to serve others. God gave it for you to use to serve others. Whatever that is, don't keep it to yourself. Skills, talents, and time, and even your financial resources. We see that the Queen of Sheba used her financial resources to help build the kingdom, help build the temple of the Lord. Act in faith like the Queen of Sheba. He's to step out in faith with what you have.

24:07 Trust God can multiply your humble offerings beyond your imaginations. Wow. So trust that God can use whatever you have. And once again, now faith is a confidence in what we hope for and assurance in what we can't not see. Let's continue. Obedience brings blessings. The queen followed her desire for wisdom, leading her to great understanding and acknowledging of God's greatness. And once again, we learn in 1 Samuel 15, 22, that to obey is better than sacrifice.

24:48 So I just always kind of wonder, like what... Like Queen of Sheba is on one side of the world. Solomon is on the other side of the world. There wasn't like cell phones. There wasn't TVs. I mean, how did she find out about Solomon? You know, and then that was a great, great. She said, I want to go talk to the Solomon guy and began to write down questions. Was it the God? Was that a God factor that was involved? Bob. Let's not forget because she is in the Bible. What happened if she didn't go? She would never have been mentioned in the Bible. So I think there was some type of divine intervention going on here.

25:33 And the final one, not the final one, but close to it, expect miracles. Anticipate that God will show up in a miraculous way when you act in faith. The Queen's journey brought her wisdom and understanding beyond her expectation. Of course, God's going to do more than we can even ask, think, or imagine. But I know that she, I don't think she expected that. She just said, I'm going to pay for this wisdom. And she just paid what she thought it was worth. But because of that effort she put in, I'm quite sure that God kind of gave her more. Gave her more because she's mentioned in the Bible. And we're talking about her today.

26:17 One thing that she didn't do, according to Proverbs 3, 5, 6, we know that trust in the Lord with your own heart and lean not to your own understanding. We know that she did not lean to her own understanding. You ever did something, you just said, I'm just going to do it. I don't care. I'm just going to do it. And you just go do it. If I think about it, I'm not going to do it. You ever did something like that? If I think about how it's going to get done, I'm not going to get it done. And that's kind of the way you don't do things blindly or do it kind of stupidly. But sometimes you know you got to do it whether I can't start thinking about it otherwise I won't do it I think that's what she did she said let's just go just pile up what we need to do I think we're going to give him about a million something dollars or maybe more maybe a billion a trillion dollars we're going to give him half the of the kingdom and then we're going to go don't talk to me about it and then I while you're putting it in there I'm writing down some questions because we're going to get some Jesus on our way. This is the plan.

27:14 And we know faith without works is dead. So we need to find out. We need to believe God. There's something, maybe she had a Bible, a part of a Bible. I don't know. It kind of makes you want to wonder what makes a queen go bow to another king in another part of the land and take half the kingdom on a really dangerous journey for divine wisdom. And some people who are, the church is right down the street, a couple of miles away, they can't even get up to go to church. I don't know. How bad do you want it? So I just encourage you to seek God's wisdom and just challenge yourself to do that thing you don't want to do so that you can, so God can do that thing that he wants to do in your life so that you can receive the unexpected blessings in your life.

28:10 So let's do this decrees. I know that was kind of serious. I was a little harsh on some folks. I don't know, but God is calling us out. God wants to show up and show out in our lives. He wants us. He wants to take that simple to the supernatural. He wants to do the miraculous in our life for the believers. He wants to show off for the unbelievers. Remember, his heart is for everyone. His heart is for everyone. Remember, God will not be mocked. God will not be mocked. He will not be mocked. And he will have the final say.

28:51 He will have the final say. So let's get the decrees in. Let's get our hearts stirred up so that God can do that thing. So that we can pack up our little stuff and just go and get some divine help. We can ask for some divine wisdom. and let's follow that divine wisdom and let's do what God has for us to do. Let's go. Repeat after me. I decree that my pursuit of wisdom and understanding, is an offering pleasing to God. I decree that I will seek God's truth and wisdom, knowing it holds more significant value than earthly treasures.

29:43 I decree that my faith and obedience will unlock God's supernatural provisions. I decree that I will expect and receive God's miraculous intervention in my life. Powerful day. Wow. Powerful, powerful. Thank you for joining me today. Sorry if I stepped on some toes, but then I'm not so sorry. God wants to move in your life and he's using me to do it. Can't wait to hear just some great stories, some great miracles.

30:27 Oh, I'm just so excited. So as we reflect on the Queen of Sheba's quest for wisdom, let us be inspired to seek God's truth in all we do. So join us next time. Join us. It's just me. Join me next time as we delve into the story of the widow of Zarephath. Stay blessed. Stay believing in the supernatural and expect miracles. What do you have in your hands? Activated this week. This is Connie Morris on Diary of the Black Woman podcast. Until next time.