A receptive heart

I am just a youth with no experience in leadership…

So give your servant a receptive heart to judge your people and to discern between good and evil. (1 Kings 3:7, 9)

Those words, “a receptive heart” really struck me this morning, mostly because the English translation I often used before translated that phrase “discerning heart.”

The word translated “receptive” is usually simply translated “hearing,” and sometimes has the idea of “obedient,” which is probably how the translators came up with “receptive.”

It did make me think of something Jesus said.

I can do nothing on my own.

I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me. (John 5:30)

As a man, Jesus had limited knowledge. In that sense, like Solomon, Jesus was as a child, totally reliant on his Father’s wisdom.

And so he listened to his Father, with a heart seeking to do his Father’s will.

If Jesus lived that way, how much more should we?

Father, I want to please you. I want to do your will. But I am like a child. I need your wisdom to discern what is right and wrong. I need your wisdom to make right judgments, to make good decisions.

So give me a receptive heart. A heart that listens for your voice throughout the day. A heart that willingly obeys you. In Jesus’ name, amen.