I think most people are familiar with the story of Solomon and the moment of intense foreboding when he called for his sword, declaring that he would divide an infant in half to settle an argument between two women:

“Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.  The one woman said, ‘Oh, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house.  Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth.  And we were alone.  There was no one else with us in the house; only we two were in the house.  And this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him.  And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me, while your servant slept, and laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast.  When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, he was dead.  But when I looked at him closely in the morning, behold, he was not the child that I had born. …And the king said, ‘Bring me a sword.’  So, a sword was brought before the king.  And the king said, ‘Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.’  Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, ‘Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.”  But the other said, ‘He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.’  Then the king answered and said, ‘Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.’” (1 Kings 3:16-21, 24-27)

This account began a saga of wise leadership through David’s son, Solomon, because “the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.” (1 Kings 3:28)

This story stirs up all kinds of “mom” emotions in me.  I cannot read these verses without experiencing a bombardment of “whys?” and “what ifs?”  I do not understand how any woman, whether a mom or not, could be willing to kill a child—but I also recognize that many women are willing to destroy unborn children. 

I hadn’t considered abortion when I began this post, but to not say anything would be a mistake.  What so grips me now is that there must have been something cold, something hardened in that woman’s heart which prompted her to call for the baby’s death.  Sadly, what may have appeared “fair” in her opinion for the women did not serve justice and was not fair at all for the child!

I recognize that this account is about God’s wisdom and justice demonstrated through king Solomon; however, I have thought a lot about these two women.  They were prostitutes, yet they had an audience with the king, they had his attention and his intervention in their lives.  Can you not see the magnificent grace of God in this story?  They were not sent away with an admonition, “You got yourself into this mess, you can get yourself out!”  They were not treated as “lesser” citizens of the kingdom because of the choices they made or their lifestyle. 

And this is us! 

We can either come before our King, broken; or we can come with an air of cold-heartedness, minimizing or unwilling to admit our own brokenness and sin, unwilling to accept the wise judgment of a gracious God towards broken people.  Calling for judgment and death for others, but not recognizing nor acknowledging our own complicity.  The thing is, we are no better, nor are we worse than anyone else appearing before our sovereign King!

Sadly, though, I have heard calloused, cynical speech come from the voices and communications of professing Christians—often rushing in on legalistic or self-righteous gusts, quick to condemn and relegate to eternal separation from God those who desperately need the kindness of our Savior!  Forgetting that “the Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

The Holy Spirit continues to admonish us through the apostle Paul, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” (Ephesians 4:29)

And remember?  Jesus taught us, “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45)

Jesus, when speaking about the approaching end of days, warned, “And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.” (Matthew 24:11)

I hope and pray that we, as Christians, will guard our hearts from the iciness of legalism, that we will recognize callousness born of unrepented sin, and not distance ourselves from God nor His people through the isolation of self-righteousness.  May we not be so intent on defending our “rights” rather than considering the rights of others to become children of God. (John 1:12) My soul’s cry to God is that the Holy Spirit will continue to soften our hearts – hearts that once were stone.