“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.’ Solomon answered, ‘You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.
‘Now, 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. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. 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?’
The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 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. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.’ Then Solomon awoke—and he realized it had been a dream.” (I Kings 3:5-15 NIV)
The temptation to desire what we want rather than what we may need is great. I remember as a young man desperately wanting to have a romantic relationship. I asked the Lord to give me that special woman. I didn’t ask for contentment because I so desperately wanted a relationship. In the end, I waited a very long time to get what I wanted because, I think, I didn’t seek what I really needed.
Imagine God saying to you, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” Would you ask for what you wanted—perhaps fame, wealth, the man or woman of your dreams? Or would you ask for what you knew you really needed? The temptation is obviously the former, and the likely choice we would make. And that’s what makes Solomon’s decision so extraordinary. He was a young man who had just been given the kingship of Israel. It was something like a twenty-something today being President of the United States. Suddenly, he had all this power and authority. Now what to do with it? We would expect him, as a young and inexperienced man, to indulge himself to the fullest. And God gave him the opportunity to do just that. But he chose to seek what he most needed—wisdom. Recognizing the huge responsibilities he had just inherited, he knew he was not up to the job.
And what did the Lord do? He made him the wisest human being to have ever walked the earth. And then He gave him wealth and honor far beyond what Solomon could ever have imagined. He received what he wanted after he asked for what he needed.
I think there is a lesson in this. If we seek from God what we truly need—a deep relationship with Him, wisdom to discern His will, and humility to follow Him wherever He leads us, then He will bless us with what we want, provided (and this is important to understand) it is within His will for us. We don’t need to grab for the things in the hope of getting what we want. In fact, as it was in my younger days, by grabbing for a romantic relationship, it eluded me even longer. No, seeking after what we truly need is the best way to get what we want.
Today, what are you wanting in your life? What you can learn from Solomon is the best way to get what you want is to first pursue what you really need.
© Jim Musser 2013
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