Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Do You Want Most in Life? | The Life of Solomon | 1 Kings 3.5-9

Episode Date: June 15, 2021

If God offered you one wish, what would you ask for? What did Solomon ask for? It wasn’t wisdom. Learn what Solomon really requested and what that means for us from https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/staff/patrick-miller/ (Pastor Patrick Miller) as we continue our series on the Life of Solomon.  Interested in more content like this? Check out https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/podcasts/why-god-chooses-the-humble-learning-to-follow-jesus-luke-146-55/ (Why God Chooses the Humble) and https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/podcasts/am-i-really-up-to-the-task-god-my-favorite-verses-isaiah-6-8/ (Am I Really Up to the Task, God?)  Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit ourhttps://www.thecrossingchurch.com/ ( website) and follow us onhttps://www.facebook.com/TenMinuteBibleTalks ( Facebook),https://www.instagram.com/thecrossingcomo/ ( Instagram), andhttps://twitter.com/tmbtpodcast ( Twitter) @TheCrossingCOMO and @TenMinuteBibleTalks.  Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now.

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. And I'm Patrick Miller. Also, if you want to connect with us, follow us on Twitter at TMBT Podcast. You can also check out our hashtag, hashtag, Ask TMBT, where you can ask us anything, and we'd love to connect with you. What do you want the most in life? That question has become a literary trope, Aladdin and the genie, Dr. Faustus. the portrait of Dorian Gray.

Now, that last one, the portrait of Dorian Gray, remember, I am a former English major and big book nerd. It's one of my all-time favorites. And this story is about an Englishman named Dorian Gray. He's living in the late 1800s, and he strikes a deal with the devil to get what he desires the most, eternal youth. Now, according to the deal, Dorian Gray will never age, but instead a painting of himself would age.

So Dorian, he takes his painting, and he hires. it in a room, although he frequently goes to view it. In the painting, he not only sees his physical decay, but also his moral decay. As it turns out, eternal youth is actually a curse, because without consequences to his actions, Dorian Gray quickly becomes a worse and worse man. He descends into a licentious lifestyle of near constant abuse. We're left with the impression that physical aging is much better than damaging your character, your will, your humanity. When those things are beyond repair, life is hardly worth living. Unfortunately, this is a lesson that we haven't taken to very well.

Today's super wealthy people, coastal elites, they are currently working for cures for aging. Some people have cryogenically frozen their bodies in hope of a future resuscitation. Apparently, super wealth, it's kind of like the new genie in the bottle, promising whatever we desire the most. But again, we should ask, what are the consequences? As I record this, news recently broke that Bill and Melinda Gates were getting a divorce and that this likely occurred because of Bill Gates' participation in one of Jeffrey Epstein's sex parties, and these parties often featured underage women. When I heard the story, I thought, wow, sometimes the whole world gets to see Dorian Gray's portrait. I'm not trying to gloat over Bill Gates. I can only say, but for the

grace of God, there too, I would go. But in the quiet of your own heart, I want you to answer the question honestly, if you could have any wish-kind-true, what would it be? What's the thing you've been dreaming about? Enough money to buy that house or property, a different spouse, maybe finding someone, more money, a better car, a new wardrobe, a better body, more fame, an elite job, an elite education. In 1st Kings 3, Yahweh asks Solomon, the infamous genie in the bottle question. And verse 5, this is what he says to Solomon, ask for whatever you want me to give you. Now, you probably think you know Solomon's answer to this question. Solomon's going to ask for wisdom.

I mean, this is a famous story after all. And on one level, you'd be right, but you'd also be missing the mark. Solomon, in his response to Yahweh, he never actually says anything about wisdom. Check out Solomon's response. Now, Lord, my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I'm only a little child and don't 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? See, did you notice? Solomon never says the word wisdom, but this is still a remark. request for two reasons. First, I want you to catch that Solomon's wish is informed by a very, very important thing. Solomon, at least at this stage, has a very humble view of himself. He calls himself a child. Now, the reality was he was not literally a child. He was a grown adult, but he admits I am like a child. I don't know how to do my job well. And he says, I'm not equipped to be king. I don't know how to do this. I cannot underline how shocking this humility is. Solomon has a

to the highest possible heights of success in Israel. He is king, and he's established his kingdom with political maneuverings, unlike anything seen in Israel's history. Yet, he comes before God, as though he's the dullest tack in the box, the dimest bulb in the house. This isn't how most people handle success. Most successful people, they let that success go to their heads. Successful people usually take credit for their success.

They rooted in their own intelligence. their own hard work, their own character, their own charm and charisma. They tell stories that humble brag about their credentials, about their extreme intelligence, about all the impressive people who think they're so impressive. They tell you how they really made themselves out of nothing into something. But really? Is that true? How do you think about your successes? Let me be honest.

I'd have a really hard time doing what Solomon did. I like to take credit for my success. I don't think of myself as being at the bottom of the class. I like thinking I'm at the top. I'm smart. I work hard. People know it. But all of that is pride. Solomon understands that everything he has is a gift from God. The truth is that Yahweh could have made anyone else king. Yahweh could have given anyone else the wealth, the power, the know-how. Every bit of everything that Solomon has is a gift from Yahweh. I'm not saying this to be in soul. to you, but the world is full of messages telling you, you're special, you're the best, you're

enough, and it's all a crock. We are all, just like Solomon, little children who don't know how to carry out our duties. So the first insight is that Solomon, his answer to God's question, it is shaped by a humble, low view of himself. You cannot give a good answer to the question. What do you want unless you have a good self-assessment? And that's a humble self-assessment. But here's the second insight. What does Solomon actually ask for? Well, he asks for the discernment he needs to govern. Or as Yahweh repeats it back to him later on, this is what God says.

He says it's discernment in administering justice. What does this even mean? Well, to answer that, you have to ask, what did kings do in Solomon's day? Well, they governed and they administered justice. And so it might sound really silly, but Solomon is actually asking Yahweh to give him the mental faculties to do his job with excellence in accordance with Yahweh's will. He's saying, Yahweh, you've called me to be king. Kings govern. Kings execute justice. So, give me what I need to govern and execute justice. Give me what I need to do well in your eyes. That, that is wisdom.

Wisdom is not the ability to give someone good advice, although wise people often do have good advice to give. Wisdom is the art of godly living. It's skillfulness in godliness wherever you're at. Whether you flip burgers or flip houses, the best thing you can ask for is discernment to live according to Yahweh's will. Wherever you're at, doing whatever it is that you're doing, whatever relationships you're engaged in. And I think that's what makes Solomon's request so remarkable. He doesn't ask for more money or more power, more land, more subjects. He doesn't ask to level up his resume. No, the only thing he asks God for is that God would make him faithful where he's at, skilled to do his work right then and there in a godly way. And do you know what the good news is for you?

God offers the exact same promise to you. I've often thought that Jesus's brother James was playing on this story when he wrote this. He said, if any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault. And it will be given to you. to you. If you can have anything, ask Jesus for the wisdom to walk in his ways as a parent, as a friend, as a student, as an athlete, as an artist, as a manager, as an employee, as a son, as a daughter, as whatever you are, wherever you are. Then maybe, just maybe, your life won't turn into a portrait of Dorian Gray. Maybe your life will grow into something truly worth living.

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