At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you."..."Now, O lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties...So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?"...So God said to him, "Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be." 1 Kings 3: 5, 7, 9, 11-12.
Today, when I was reading this several things came to mind...of course, a lesson. Notice in the second line that Solomon referred to himself not as King but as God's servant. This is the first of several lessons this scripture gives us. Solomon must of been overwhelmed with the task ahead of him...he had big shoes to fill and a large kingdom to rule. He knew he needed wisdom but where was that wisdom going to come from? So, instead of calling his friends..instead of looking to the knowledgeable people in his kingdom he went to God! Going straight to God shows the foundation of Solomon...his prayer was the revelation of his own need for God. What an example to us. How many times, even though we are christians, do we try everything in our power when faced with something overwhelming except simply prayer! We are slow to recognize our inability, we are slow to acknowledge God's power, we seem to come to Him as a last resort instead of the other way around. When we are young, we seem to be blinded by the pride of "Iknow it all", when we are older we are blinded by the pride of the knowledge and connections we think we have. But Solomon wasn't blinded by his own pride. Even though he was picked to be King he recognized that he, even in the "I know it all" youthful stage of life and with all his kingdom at the tip of his fingers, needed God's help. WOW!
Another lesson from this is the acknowledgment of Solomon that his wisdom was not enough...not enough for now or in the future. He was asking God not only for the immediate needs but for wisdom and knowledge for the future. He knew that the future would hold problems and he would have to use wisdom in the future as well. How often are we so single-minded that we only ask for the problems of right now...solve this problem and we will worry about tomorrow another day. We want God to take care of today because our sight is so limited..."just give me what I want or need today and if I need you again i'll get in touch with you!" Not very humble are we?! When we come to our Lord we need to be humble, we should ask for knowledge and direction, not just for today, but for the future. We are God's servants, God is not our "genie in a bottle." We should seek His wisdom for today, tomorrow and for all the days, months and years ahead.
This is not new stuff to me but it does help to remind me that I have strayed somewhat. Yes, I confess I often slip into the old habit of using all my resources to tackle God-sized task instead of acknowledging my need for God-sized help. I often forget that I need and want God's wisdom to take me far beyond the solution to today's problems...I want Him and His wisdom to walk me through all the days of my life. I hope this helped to remind you of your need for Him too!
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