After Solomon became king, when he prayed for wisdom, God said to him, “Behold I have done according to thy word: lo, I have given thee a wise and understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honour; so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days” (1 Kings 3:12-13).

The full extent of Solomon’s riches is not known, but it says in 1 Kings 9:27-28, “And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. And they came to Ophir, and fet from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.” Today the value of that gold shipment would be about $850 million, so Solomon was definitely a billionaire by today’s standards. I think it’s interesting that when Solomon asked for wisdom, God also gave him wealth. It would appear that they were a package deal, that he couldn’t have wisdom without wealth and vice versa.

When I was a brand new Christian, I asked God to give me a son. He told me that he would give me a son and he was going to give me a husband that would love me. At the time, I didn’t care much if I had a husband, and if I did have one, I didn’t expect him to love me. Now, I realize that a son without a father is not what God wanted for me. In order for my son to be the blessing I was hoping for, he needed a godly father that would raise him to be a follower of Jesus Christ, a true believer, as I am now. I didn’t know that a husband loving his wife was the best example there was of a godly man, and as a true believer in Jesus Christ, that’s what my son needed.