God gave Solomon wisdom, very great insight, and understanding as vast as the sand on the seashore. Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than anyone . . .(1 Kings 4:29 — 31) 

Solomon prayed for wisdom to lead his people. Although Solomon was a young and inexperienced king, God recognized his faithful heart. When Solomon succumbed to Canaanite influence by offering sacrifices to the Lord at pagan altars, there was no indication of a rebuke from God. Instead, God allowed him to make a request. Aware of his lack of maturity to lead, Solomon prioritized the people of Israel over himself and asked God for wisdom and a discerning heart. God was pleased, granting his request and promising additional blessings of wealth and honor.

Earth’s sands hold a few secrets of our wise Creator; from the ocean floor to the hourglass, they too sing the mighty power of God. A great part of the surface of the globe is covered by sand, the matter that shifts beneath our feet when crossing the beach or desert. We think highly of sand when it does our bidding; it builds, it supports our weight despite its shifting terrain, and we create colorful landscapes in glass bottles that are, ironically, made of sand themselves.

We often think poorly of sand, especially when it becomes a nuisance. It litters our bedroom floors after beach trips, pelts our faces in the strong winds of arid desert plains, or becomes waterlogged when quicksand grips our feet without providing any support. However, when sand is viewed as a collective, nature reminds us that we stand on solid ground. Toss a handful of sand on a windy day and observe how weightless and insignificant it is as the wind and gravity scatter its granules to new resting places. This illustrates the fickle nature of our feldspar-quartz cushion.

The sand on which we walk is pulverized by time, wind, water, and pressure through the ages. It is steady and sure. When the particles are bound together under the right conditions, they become firm. Sand is, indeed, a major commodity around the world, producing mortar, plaster, concrete, and asphalt paving. Mix it with clay, and you have sturdier, even more tightly cemented bricks than those made of clay alone.

God promised Solomon that his wisdom would fill God’s earth like sand, more numerous than the human hand can count. Yet with the promise came a warning, wherein the very nature of wisdom’s sands also stands out. Only when Solomon’s loyalty was turned toward Yahweh would his wisdom be a life-giving force; when he turned his knowledge and power on himself, he would become destructive:

King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharaoh’s daughter: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women from the nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, and they must not intermarry with you, because they will turn your heart away to follow their gods.” To these women Solomon was deeply attached in love. He had seven hundred wives who were princesses and three hundred who were concubines, and they turned his heart away.

When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away to follow other gods. He was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his father David had been. Solomon followed Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the abhorrent idol of the Ammonites. Solomon did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, and unlike his father David, he did not remain loyal to the Lord. (1 Kings 11:1–4)

Though Israel’s king is remembered well for his wisdom, there were times when Solomon moved into Folly’s house and knelt at the altar of self for earthly gain. Whenever he turned aside to forbidden women and their false gods, his wisdom dissipated and came to nothing but strife for him and his people—like so much shifting sand, scattered on the wind.