Sit back, relax, and watch your people fail!

In מלכים א פרק ג, a conversation God is giving Shlomo the chance to ask for whatever he wants. Shlomo asks for the ability to tell the difference between good and bad so he can judge the nation. Instead of giving Shlomo what he asked for, God gives him a wise and understanding heart, wealth, and power. God then promises to give Shlomo a long life if he keeps the mitzvot. 

In class we wrote down the different outcomes that might come about now that Shlomo has these abilities. God granting Shlomo with these abilities could be good or bad. If he uses them to do good and help the nation, this was a great thing for Shlomo. If his new abilities cause him to become haughty and stray from God, the abilities were no good. 

I continue to struggle with one question. The answers I am getting for this question are not satisfying me. I am curious as to why God keeps setting his people up for failure. People are weak. If we say God knows everything how can he just "sit back and watch" as we fail to do what he wants/expects. Shlomo had so much thrown at him. We might have been in class guessing the outcomes, but God knew what would happen in the end. He knew Shlomo was weak and couldn't handle this amount of power and wealth. גן עדן is another example of God testing his people and watching them fail.