Solomon's Prayer for Wisdom
Notes
Transcript
Solomon’s Prayer for Wisdom
Solomon’s Prayer for Wisdom
God had provided for His people a king who would shepherd His people, watching over them, protecting them, and providing for them. This was the great king David. The shepherd boy made king, by trusting in God. David for as great as he was, with all of his amazing accomplishments, such as kill Goliath, and defeating all of Israel’s enemies, still fell short. David took another man’s wife, and had that man (Uriah) Killed. But God forgave David, and told David that there was gonna come a Messiah King who would reign over the people and be the perfect King- This is Jesus Christ. David was a great king, but Jesus is the perfect King.
So now our journey through the Bible comes to David’s son Solomon. Solomon is the son of David and Beersheba, and is best known for his wisdom, and we are going to see why in our story today.
A man begins cutting his wisdom teeth the first time he bites off more than he can chew.
Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places. And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.” And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?”
It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days. And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”
And Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.
Solomon Loved the Lord
Solomon Loved the Lord
Solomon was chose to rule of God’s people, and from what we read, this was no small task. What we also see is that just as God had chose David and equipped Him to be king, God comes to Solomon and does the same.
It is important to note that (verse 3) “Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his Father...” We see God coming to one of His own who loves Him, and this love is expressed in the way Solomon lived first of all, but all in the worship of God through sacrifices.
How do we show our love for God?
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
It is by How we live. If we truly love God and worship God, then our lives will show that. This is also why His request was what is was.
There is a common miss interpreted scripture which says, “ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
This is a dangerous thing for God to allow for us- “anything I want?” “Really anything”
Yet we miss one important truth:
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
Solomon loved God, worshipped God, and therefore his desire was to bring God glory through how He governed the people of God.
He didn’t ask for selfish things that we might ask for, but rather he desired the things of God for those whom he had great influence over- Think of Christ in this, Solomon was a wise king but eventually even this wise king would stumble and cause great damage, yet Christ would come and will come t the wisest King and undo the damage the Solomon would do. Christ would endure the cross be mocked, and bring God glory through His death and bring people back to God.
Solomon’s request
Solomon’s request
Solomon begins by seeing His need- “I am but a little child.” what He lacked was wisdom, yet what he did have was humility. He wasn’t the be all, but saw his need, that only God could meet.
And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?”
This is a question that I keep coming back to, but What is your greatest need?
God has provided for us and answered this very question for us- We needed a savior. It takes humility to come to the point of saying “God I need you, You are King of my life and I will live my life to bring you glory.”
How many of us would ask for salvation, when most of us don’t really see our need for it?
WE all need knowledge and wisdom, and Solomon would go on to write
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.
and again
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
To fear the Lord is to walk in the ways of God- no more lying, no more stealing, no more hurting others with words, no more chasing after guys or girls or anything else that takes the place of God.
It is in the very first sentence that we read “Solomon loved the Lord.
God Provision
God Provision
God had provided for Solomon what he needed in order to rule over the people God. God gave Solomon the means to get the job done, and it was all an act of God’s grace, for both Solomon who had to rule and those whom he ruled over.
Christ Connection: Solomon was a wise king who wanted to do God’s plan. Solomon wasn’t perfect, but God had a plan to give His people a greater and wiser king—His Son, Jesus. Jesus surrendered His own life to die on the cross for our sin.
This is a crazy thought to which Charles Spurgeon wrote:
300 Sermon Illustrations from Charles Spurgeon Clinging to a Wreck (Hebrews 7:25; 1 Peter 2:8)
He is not the sort of Savior they would like to have, or his way of saving sinners is not the one that they approve, and there are all manner of difficulties that they invent, which they imagine to be evidences of their wisdom, but which are really only proofs of their folly and vanity.
God has provided for us what we needed most to complete the work of redemption and salvation in our lives, the wisest and greatest king Jesus Christ, the innocent for the guilty.
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Identification with Christ
When the final second had ticked away, and the thrilling football game had ended, an exhausted fan in the bleachers turned to his friend and exclaimed, “Boy, we really played well today!” The fact was that he hadn’t played at all. He wasn’t wearing the pads. He wasn’t on the field. Yet he identified himself with the eleven men on the team.
So should it be for believers. Christ was the One who died on the cross, Christ was buried, and Christ rose again. Yet we are identified with him.
The greatest Knowledge that we could ever have is to Know God, and His only begotten son who, in His divine wisdom went to the cross in order to provided for our greatest need, and make us His own.