Ask What I Shall Give You – 1 Kings 3

A text – 1 Kings 3:5-12

3:5 At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I should give you.”
3:6 And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today.
3:7 And now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in.
3:8 And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted.
3:9 Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?”
3:10 It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.
3:11 God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right,
3:12 I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you.

A reflection:

Solomon may have been placed on his aging father David’s throne in his teens. He had older brothers and half brothers, but some scholars think that his doting mother Bathsheba and perhaps the prophet Nathan believed Solomon had the charisma and the gifts to rule, and that they created the conditions for him to come to the throne even though others were older.  If he was young, that might explain his words to God in this passage. As he considered his father David’s fame and his success at being king of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah, Solomon, as his successor, must have been very worried.

God asked the young man what he wished for. Solomon asked for the wisdom to govern the two kingdoms well. And God was so pleased with this request that Solomon was blessed to be the wisest and richest king Israel and Judah had known.

Has anyone ever said to you, “Ask what I shall give you”? As he replies, Solomon takes a long time to be grateful first before replying directly to God, asking for something. He dwells on his father’s close relationship with God. He considers himself in fact a gift from God to David. And he admits the hugeness of his new task of governing God’s chosen people. He says out loud everything that is overwhelming him. And God loves his humility, despite his royal upbringing. God loves his earnest desire to do well for God’s chosen people, to serve them rather than to lord it over them.

Perhaps the best gift we can ask for, if someone should tell us to “ask what I shall give you,” is any gift that will help us to carry out God’s mission in our lives, our calling to serve others.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for giving us so many gifts. Help us to ask you for wisdom and for whatever else we need to do the work you have given us to do.   Amen.