Now all the earth SOUGHT THE PRESENCE OF SOLOMON to hear his wisdom, WHICH GOD HAD PUT IN HIS HEART. Each man brought his present: articles of silver and gold, garments, armor, spices, horses, and mules, at a set rate year by year.

I Kings 10: 24-25 NKJV

And moreover, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yes, he PONDERED and SOUGHT OUT and SET IN ORDER MANY PROVERBS. The Preacher SOUGHT TO FIND ACCEPTABLE WORDS; and what was written was upright—words of truth. The words of the wise are like goads, and THE WORDS OF SCHOLARS are like well-driven nails, given by one Shepherd. And further, my son, be admonished by these. Of making many books there is no end, and MUCH STUDY IS WEARISOME TO THE FLESH.

Ecclesiastes 12: 9-12 NKJV

There is a very strong tendency to ascribe wisdom and greatness to Solomon only because he asked God for it, oh yes, he did and God granted him wisdom and riches, if we stopped at that, we would have missed a lot of other factors responsible for his success and we wouldn’t be able to replicate it. In the book of proverbs, Solomon taught wisdom but in the book of Ecclesiastes which he wrote in his latter years, he reveals a lot about his personal professional life, his work ethics, his diligence, his commitment to study, meditation and research in his attempt to teach wisdom and find accurate expression, no wonder men came from all over the world to hear him.

God does not give us finished products. Nothing appears in its full bloom, everything comes in its raw form or crude state, requiring some working at, polishing, developing, honing, cultivating, nurturing, fine-tuning and growing. When you pray for success and money, God will give you an idea, He will put wisdom in your heart concerning something, and then you will need to work at it. It is not that God has not put ideas in us but a lot of people are too lazy to work on the ideas given to them, the inspiration they have received and the dream they have.

Solomon’s wisdom brought him great wealth, because he worked on it. He talked about study and research, observing ants, spiders, reading up everything available on any topic of interest. He mentioned how it caused weariness to his flesh and took away his sleep. He was a diligent man, he studied international trade, and he knew what every country had to offer. He became a consultant in international trade and diplomacy. It is the hand of the diligent that bears the rule. Sit with the idea, dream, etc. that God has given to you, work at it, read about it, and put in the required work. It is the ideas you work at that men pay for. The more processed a product is, the finer it is and the higher it is valued. Experts say if you read one hour every day in your chosen field for seven years it will make you an international expert and put you in the top 1% of income earners in your professional society. Want to be as rich as Solomon? God has shown us the way.