Solomon's Heart
3 Now Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. 4 The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place; Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, “Ask what you wish Me to give you.”
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. 7 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. 8 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. 9 So give Your servant [d]an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”
10 It was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. 11 God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself [g]long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice, 12 behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. 13 I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days. 14 If you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and commandments, as your father David walked, then I will prolong your days.”
15 Then Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and made peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.
1Kings 3:3-15
Affirmation and Warning
1 Now it came about when Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD, and the king’s house, and all [a]that Solomon desired to do, 2 that the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 The LORD said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. 4 As for you, if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you and will keep My statutes and My ordinances, 5 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I promised to your father David, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’
6 “But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them, and the house which I have consecrated for My name, I will cast out of My sight. So Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 8 And this house will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by will be astonished and hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’ 9 And they will say, ‘Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them, therefore the LORD has brought all this adversity on them.’”
1Kings 9:1-9
7 Two things I asked of You,
Do not refuse me before I die:
8 Keep deception and lies far from me,
Give me neither poverty nor riches;
Feed me with the food that is my portion,
9 That I not be full and deny You and say, “Who is the LORD?”
Or that I not be in want and steal,
And profane the name of my God.
Proverbs 30:7-9
It has been said that Solomon was renowned as a wise young ruler, but he died a foolish old man, swerving off the path the God had mapped out for him...he died surrounded by idols, foreign wives and concubines, and false prophets who worshipped idols. All of it was like "chasing the wind", as Solomon himself declared in Ecclesiates. In 1Kings 3, the Lord appeared to Solomon, with promises and a clear warning...In 1Kings 9, God appeared to him for a second time, and very specifically again warned Solomon. Now, Solomon himself heard and saw the Lord, and yet he fell into the very things God Himself, not an angel or a seraph, told him to stay away from! I have considered this on a number of occasions and realize that if it happened to King Solomon, who started out wanting nothing more than to follow the Almighty with all his heart, it can happen to anyone. Including me. I have written before about the narrow path we are walking, and how we need to, absolutely must, guard our hearts, our minds, our eyes, just how easily we can wander off like a stray sheep, and deny God, the One who gives wealth, when wealth becomes an idol and wrongly handled.
My prayer today is that of Proverbs 30:7-9... Lord, thank you for providing my portion, just enough, not too little or too much! Thank you for looking deep inside my heart, and knowing me better than I could know myself.
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