6.3 Solomon's Prayer

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2. The true basis for prayer – God’s faithfulness

This comes out in 1 Kings 3:6-8 where Solomon reflects on God’s goodness in the past. ‘You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David,’ he says ‘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.’

Ebenezer! Up until now the Lord has been good. When in 3:8 Solomon says ‘Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number’ he is clearly alluding back to the promise made to Abraham right at the beginning (Gn 16:10). So Solomon is praising God for his great faithfulness. It also encourages him to pray boldly. It ought to encourage us too. None of God’s promises will ever fail. He is the faithful God.

‘For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God.’ (2 Co 1:20)

When I was a boy one of my uncles used to enjoy playing with his nieces and nephews. He used to promise my cousin Kim that when he married she would be his bridesmaid. As it turned out, when he did marry she was not his bridesmaid and there was some resentment about that. On reflection, he should never have promised. Better not to make a promise than to break it. Now God is never like that. All his promises are yes and amen in Christ. Not one of them will ever fail. In the words of a children’s chorus

Jesus is a faithful friend,
One on whom you can depend.
He is faithful to the end.
Fix your eyes upon him.

3. The true concern of prayer – God’s people
There is something to learn here too from Solomon and his attitude. Look at 3:7-9. Solomon humbly acknowledges that God has made him king in place of his father David ‘But’ he says ‘I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties.’ This is the situation (8,9) ‘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?’
Solomon is not concerned at all about himself. His one great concern is the people of God and how to govern them. Now here is a good test. If I say to you what would you ask for if you were in Solomon’s position, what is your answer? It is difficult to answer the question honestly once you know the story but the question is, ‘Would your concern be chiefly for yourself or for the people of God?’ Ralph Davis says that when he asked his young son the question he had no hesitation. He wanted Astroturf!
I know that Solomon was in a particular position having been made king but the question is still worth pondering. Your chief concern ought to be not yourself or your own family but the people of God. That is something that the very order of the Lord’s Prayer teaches us. Are you concerned about your local church? Are you concerned about the needs of the people of God worldwide? Churches are being attacked and Christians persecuted in various places – are you concerned?

4. The true goal of prayer – God’s pleasure
Finally we focus on 3:10-14. Verse 10 is quite a wonderful verse really. I suppose it could have said something like ‘And the Lord did what Solomon asked’ or ‘granted his request’. That could sound like someone with a rubber stamp approving a planning application. In fact it says ‘The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this.’ The Lord goes on to tell Solomon this – ‘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, etc.’
Could there be a more perfect conclusion to a story? It is not so much that Solomon got what he asked for but rather that God was pleased with what he had asked for. That is what we should be aiming at in our prayers. Are we? There is a popular phrase that politicians apparently use. They say ‘I’m glad you asked me that question’. Sometimes it is a lie and they are not glad at all. They say it just to give themselves time to think of an answer. At other times it is genuine because they have the answer already to hand.
There is something pleasurable about being asked a question you know the answer to, is there not? I remember doing a history examination a long time ago and seeing the question I had prepared (on Henry VII’s foreign policy). I was glad to be asked and it was a pleasure to write that essay. The Bible is willing to talk about the Lord in very human terms at times and perhaps that gives us a glimpse into God’s pleasure. We should ask God for what pleases him. Let us seek that when we pray.

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6.2 Solomon's Prayer

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2. The incompleteness of so much in life and the need for wisdomWe are told that 'He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the LORD, and the wall around Jerusalem.' This was early in his reign, before the temple was complete or even his palace. It is because there was no temple that (2) ‘The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places’.
This reminds us of the incompleteness of much in life and the way that we often have to work with what is less than ideal. That has many applications. Some of us find it easier to cope with this than others. However, we must all live with it. Only with the coming of Christ will everything be complete. Meanwhile we press on. With Paul we say (Philip 3:12-14) 'Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.'

3. The importance of being upright and the impossibility of being perfect in this lifeIf we were in any doubt about Solomon at the beginning of his reign our fears are laid to rest in verse 3 'Solomon showed his love for the LORD by walking according to the statutes of his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.'
This is the counterpart to 2 Sam 12:24, 25 where we are told that the Lord loved Solomon. Solomon was never perfect that is clear. As far as the writer here is concerned he could not be anyway until the temple was complete. However, he loved the Lord (a sentiment, I believe, not ascribed to any other Old Testament saint) and showed it by his obedience, ‘by walking according to the statutes of his father David’.
What about us? Do you love the Lord? Do you show it by your obedience to him? See Jn 14:15, 23, 24; 15:10 where Jesus says to his disciples 'If you love me, you will obey what I command. … If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. … If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.'
None of us are perfect but we can endeavour to live to his praise.

4. The importance of worship and the prospect of meeting with God in this lifeWe are then told in verse 4 that 'The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.'
It was there that ‘the LORD appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream.’ It was only when he awoke that he ‘realised it had been a dream.’ We are told in verse 15 that after this 'He returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.'
He also ‘gave a feast for all his court’. So both at the tabernacle, then in Gibeon, and before the ark in Jerusalem, Solomon and those with him worshipped the Lord. It was in the midst of this worship that God met with him.
What an encouragement that is – in the midst of life’s complexities and responsibilities, its impossibilities and imperfections, there is the prospect of meeting with God as we worship him. Pray that he will meet with you whenever you worship him.

 

Prayer is simple and powerful and can lead to wisdomAs we look at Solomon’s prayer it is clear that asking is a great theme here. See 5, 10, 11, 13 (also 12 but using a different word). 'Ask for whatever you want … The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. … Since you have asked for this and not (asked) for long life or (asked) wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but (asked) for discernment in administering justice … Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for.
According to D Ralph Davis, at least four things about asking come out here. We can speak of

1. The true incentive to prayer – God’s generosityThis comes out, firstly, in the very way that God says to Solomon ‘Ask for whatever you want me to give you.’ Then after Solomon has asked God says (13, 14) 'Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for - both riches and honour - so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. And if you walk in my ways and obey my statutes and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.'
For no good reason we have our doubts about God’s generosity. We somehow suppose he is niggardly in some way, a stingy and mean God, unwilling to give us what we really need. It is a little like a child with good parents thinking they are mean because they send him to bed at a reasonable time or make him eat greens. I suppose it is the devil who gets us thinking like this. It is totally wrong. Remember Matthew 7:7-11 and James 1:5.
'Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!'
'If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.'
Get rid of all your doubts about God. He is more willing to give than we are to receive. He knows just what we need.
Jas 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Ps 81:10 I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.
Growing up, both grandmothers were part of my life. We regularly visited them. Early on I was aware of differences. My dad’s mother (Nana Pidge I called her) was generous with soft drinks, biscuits, cake and comics to read. Nana Thomas was much less child-friendly in that way. She would offer tea (made with sterilised milk – yeuch!) and that was all. She was also ready to tell you off if you were naughty. Nana Pidge was big and cuddly and used to call me her little pigeon (hence my name for her) – and had a little more money. The other was thin and stern, not one for cuddles just a wet kiss goodbye. She had less money to spare. It was rather immature but you can guess which I preferred. You can also guess which one I think best illustrates the Lord’s character. All illustrations have their dangers but while there is certainly a ‘Nana Thomas’ sternness in God his main characteristic is much more a ‘Nana Pidge’ big-heartedness. That is clear here and from many other passages of Scripture.

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6.1 Solomon's Prayer

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Solomon was a king. There are not many kings left in this world and the rest of us may be tempted to think that there is not so much to learn from such a life. However, there is a sense in which we are all kings. Man was made to rule over creation. We all have kingly responsibilities of one sort or other – to churches, Sunday School children, employees, wives, children, at the very least to ourselves. We may also find ourselves in a position where we need to instruct others in kingly duties and so it is good for us to know about these things.
Perhaps one of the best-known things about Solomon is his wisdom and the fact that he gained it by praying to God. God told him that he could have anything he wanted, he had only to ask. Very wisely (God was already making him wise before he asked) he asked not for riches or honour but for wisdom. On the very face of it then there are lessons for us here –

1. Our greatest need is not riches or honour but wisdom to make the right use of what we already have

Several proverbs bring this out

4:7 Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.
16:16 How much better to get wisdom than gold, to choose understanding rather than silver!
17:16 Of what use is money in the hand of a fool, since he has no desire to get wisdom?

2. God is a God who hears our prayers even before we ask

Before we call he will answer. He says as much in Isaiah 65:24 ‘Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.’ Remember how it was ‘while he was still a long way off’ that the prodigal’s father ‘saw him and was filled with compassion for him’ and ‘ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him’.

3. If we go to God in faith and ask him for anything we truly need in his name, he will give it to us

‘This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him. (1 Jn 5:14, 15).

First we will look at the verses that precede Solomon’s famous prayer for wisdom. They are in 1 Kings 3:1-5.

Life is complex and incomplete and so we need wisdom

We are told that ‘Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt’ and married his daughter and that ‘He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the LORD, and the wall around Jerusalem.’ later on, in 1Kings 9:16 we learn that
Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire. He killed its Canaanite inhabitants and then gave it as a wedding gift to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.
Solomon then proceeded to build up Gezer. Back in 1 Kings 3:2 there is a note that ‘The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built for the Name of the LORD’ and that (3)
Solomon showed his love for the LORD by walking according to the statutes of his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.
We then read of how God appeared to Solomon at Gibeon and of their famous conversation. There is disagreement on how to take these preceding verses. Are they condemning Solomon from the start or can we take a better view of him from them? Are they somewhere in between? They certainly have lessons to teach us about how complicated and imperfect life is and the constant need for wisdom. We need to consider

1. The relationship between believers and unbelievers, the dilemmas this poses in life and the need for wisdom

We read in verse 1 of Solomon’s alliance with the King of Egypt sealed by marriage to his daughter. We know from elsewhere that he had already married Naamah, an Ammonite princess. Those who condemn Solomon here do so on the grounds that he should not have married a pagan and was entering into a worldly alliance with Egypt to bolster his kingdom. They also remind us that it was Solomon’s pagan wives who eventually lead him astray.
On the other hand, there was no specific prohibition against marriage to an Egyptian and it is possible to view the move as a wise step in securing and establishing the kingdom inherited from David. In light of the rest of the story this would seem to be the correct view.
This well illustrates the dilemma for the Christian as far as involvement with unbelievers is concerned. On one hand we know that, as Jesus says, (Jn 15:19) we ‘do not belong to the world, but’ he has chosen us ‘out of the world.’
On the other hand (Mt 5:14-16) ‘You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.’
The Corinthians were a little confused over this. Paul says (1 Cor 5:9, 10) ‘I have written to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people - not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.’
Christians tend to swing to extremes on this, personally and generationally – from monasticism to worldliness, from asceticism to indulgence. Neither extreme is right. Somehow we need to be in the world but not of it – we must ‘use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.’ (1 Cor 7:31).
Solomon was right to make an alliance with Egypt but if it did lead him into sin, as some suggest, then it was not good. We must get to know all sorts of people but we are to be an influence for good on them, like salt and light, not the other way round, being corrupted and benighted.

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