At the church where I serve we
are spending our time in a sermon series entitled Kings, where we
are looking at the lives of kings who were placed in a position of leadership
over the Jewish people. Last week, we looked at the life of King David and discovered
the timeless truth that following our
selfish desires instead of fulfilling our responsibilities will lead to us
failing everyone in our sphere of influence. We discovered that, just like King
David, when we follow our selfish desires instead of fulfilling our
responsibilities, the selfishness and rebellion that flows out of those desires
affects and impacts all of those who are in our sphere of influence.
This week, I would like for us
to spend our time together picking up where we left off last week. We ended by
looking on as the Lord answered David’s question and doubts about His promise
through a son, named Solomon. God was going to fulfill His promises to King
David in spite of King David’s performance, not because of King David’s
performance through his son.
And as King David approached
the end of his life, the King responded to the Lord’s promises to him by
handing over the role and responsibility of King to Solomon.
Solomon was anointed King of the Jewish nation in 971 B.C. when he was twenty
years old. King Solomon proceeded to lead the Jewish nation for a period of
forty years.
Immediately after being anointed king, King Solomon
followed his father David’s command to execute justice upon those who had
rebelled against God’s commands or had attempted to revolt against King David.
After following his father’s final commands and establishing control of the kingdom
of the Jewish people, Solomon stepped back and reflected on all that the Lord
had done for him.
Solomon also looked forward toward the incredible
responsibility that was now before him as king. And it is in this context that
we jump into a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament
of the Bible called the book of 1 Kings, beginning in 1 Kings 3:3:
Now Solomon
loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David, except he
sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. The king went to Gibeon to
sacrifice there, for that was the great high place; Solomon offered a thousand
burnt offerings on that altar. In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a
dream at night; and God said, "Ask what you wish me to give you."
Now to fully understand what is happening here, we first
need to understand something about how the Jewish people worshipped the Lord at
this point in history. You see, at this time in history, the Jewish people did
not have a centralized location from which to worship the Lord, as the Temple
had not been built yet.
Instead, the Jewish people worshipped the Lord at
locations that were referred to as High places. High places were shrines that
were elaborate in their design and décor and were located at places of higher
elevation throughout the Jewish nation. Now, with that in mind, Solomon, out of
a desire to worship the Lord for all that the Lord had done in his life, travel
to a high place that was located at Gibeon, which was seven miles northeast of
the city of Jerusalem. At Gibeon, Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings.
Now to understand the significance of this act of
worship, we first must understand what a burnt offering consisted of. In the
Jewish sacrificial system, there were two times every day that sacrifices were
made to God for the sins of the people. The sacrificial offerings involved
animals who were offered as a substitute to pay the penalty for acts of selfishness
and rebellion that had been committed against God.
In addition to sacrificial offerings, there was another
sacrifice, which was called a burnt offering. Burnt offerings also consisted of
animals that were offered up to the Lord as an expression of worship and
thanksgiving to God. So Solomon basically offered up, as an act of worship and
thanksgiving for the Lord’s activity in his life, 1,000 animals. Now, I don’t
know about you, but that sounds like that would have taken a lot of time and a
lot of money, don’t you think? You see, Solomon wanted to respond to the Lord’s
generous activity in his life. So, as an act of worship, Solomon reflected the
Lord’s generosity by generously giving his time and his treasure to the Lord in
worship.
Solomon’s response of worship lasted the entire day,
which resulted in Solomon spending the night at Gibeon. And as Solomon slept at
Gibeon, the Lord responded to his act of worship by appearing to him in a
dream. And in that dream, we see the Lord ask Solomon a single question: "Ask
what you wish me to give
you."
Now I want us to take a minute and imagine ourselves in
this event from history as Solomon. Place yourself in his shoes. After
expressing your appreciation for God’s activity in your life, the Lord appears
to you in a dream. And, if that was not enough, the Lord basically says to you
“Whatever you want, just ask and I will give it to you”. Now you are Solomon.
What would you be thinking at this point? How would you respond? What would you
ask for? We see what Solomon asked for in verse 6:
Then Solomon said, "You have shown great
lovingkindness to Your servant David my father, according as he walked before
You in truth and righteousness and uprightness of heart toward You; and You
have reserved for him this great lovingkindness, that You have given him a son
to sit on his throne, as it is this
day. "Now, O LORD my God, You have made Your servant king in place of my
father David, yet I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come
in. "Your servant is in the midst of Your people which You have chosen, a
great people who are too many to be numbered or counted. "So give Your
servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and
evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?"
Now Solomon’s request, if communicated in the language we
use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Lord, you demonstrated
your faithful devotion to my father as he strived to follow you with his total
being. And you have continued to demonstrate your faithful devotion to my
father by giving me the opportunity to rule after him as king. But Lord, I am
not my father David. I am inexperienced as a leader and I don’t have the
leadership skills that my father David had. And now I am in charge of leading
the people that You have chosen to be Your people and that you have blessed to
become a large and prosperous nation. Lord, I don’t know if I am up to the job,
so please give me a heart that listens and obeys You so that I would be able to
listen to and lead this great nation of Yours. Please give me a heart that
listens and obeys You so that I would be able to administer justice for Your
people in a way that understands the difference between good and evil. I
desperately need You because there is not man who can lead Your people like
You”.
If you were Solomon, is that what you would have asked
for? You see, Solomon recognized that he was in desperate need of the Lord.
Solomon recognized the incredible role and responsibility that he had been
given as king. Solomon recognized that he was inexperienced and lacked the
leadership skills to lead the Jewish people.
Solomon recognized that he was in desperate need of the
Lord’s wisdom, guidance, and direction to lead the Jewish people. So Solomon
asked for the Lord to provide him with the wisdom, discernment and
understanding to hear and follow the Lord so that He could listen and lead the
Jewish people.
Tomorrow, we will look at the Lord’s response to
Solomon’s request…
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