Ask and You Will Receive

1st Kings 3

Now this may sound superficial but I will be honest, when growing up I would circle all the things that I wanted the Toys R Us ad that would come in the mail right before Christmas. It was my way of showing my parents my Christmas list. The funny thing is that everything seemed appealing to me in that magazine ad. When Christmas day would role around, I would not get everything I would circle in fact I would get only a few things in there because my parents would ask, “Now Jon, what exactly do you really want?” I realized that I could not have everything so I would give them the top 5 things I would want. It was cool because I would at least get one of those things if not more. 

In this chapter we are still following the newly anointed king, Solomon, David’s son. Because the people were sacrificing to God at the high places and because there was no house for God or the Ark, Solomon wanted to build one. We see God has a little talk with Solomon and it is a great question the Lord wants to ask.

Solomon Doing Good

In verse 3 it says, Solomon loved the Lord and walked in the statutes of David his father. While he was at Gibeon offering a sacrifice to the Lord, the Lord appeared to him in a dream. God asked a very specific question, “Ask what I shall give you?” God was throwing it out to Solomon, “Dude, I am infinite in what I can give, try me.” I wonder what went through Solomon’s mind, the universe and what God was offering was right in front of him, it was endless in what could have been given. Solomon’s answer was great. He asked God to give him wisdom so he could discern for the people. He just wanted to be able to be a good king. God said, “Because you asked for this and not for long life or riches or the life of your enemies,  I will give you wisdom and all these other things as well.”

God was in a way testing Solomon to see what he would ask for and he chose something that would benefit the people. 

Solomon Received Wisdom

In verses 16 through 28 we see that Solomon was put to the test to see how wise he really is. Two women come to him with the issue over whose baby is it. They both claimed the baby that was alive was both of theirs. Solomon then said, “Bring me a sword because I will cut the baby in half and you both can have the baby.” The woman whose child it was said, “Please do not kill the child but give it to the other lady.” Solomon realized whose child it was by the response of the two woman. Because of this act, his wisdom that God gave spread through the land and surrounding nations.

Ask, Seek, and Knock

Jesus spoke of these words in Matthew 7:7-11. He was speaking to the multitude and showing them how great God is. Some people take this portion of scripture and view God as a genie in a bottle. They can ask whatever they want and they will give it. We need to understand God is a wholly good God who will give things that bring about good. He will give things that are according to his will and not ours. In the later part of that section Jesus mentioned how parents would not give a rock for their children to eat when they asked for food because they were hungry. Well, we sometimes could be the children asking God for the rock to eat. He is no, I am not going to give you the rock, it is bad for you. We may not understand but God is watching out for us. Ask of God, seek God and knock after him, it is not about stuff but about Him. That is what it is all about.