As you can tell by the songs we’ve been singing, by the scripture Dana read, that we have moved on from David and we’re talking about Solomon and Solomon’s anointing and what comes with that. And it started as we were thinking about, as I think about Solomon, my mind immediately goes to his pride. That he might have started off humble but there’s some pride that got in there somewhere and he got away from choosing the way of the Lord.
And I think about, as a guy, how awesome it is that I have these this maps right here that I can just plug it in and go and I never ever have to stop and ask for directions again. Because I, I honestly, it seems stereotypical but I hated doing that. It felt so unmanly to do that.
Certain times we need instruction and we need guidance. When I talked about Tim and I putting these together, I pulled this out and in my mind I was thinking, we do not need instructions for this. Did we need instructions? Does the proper order matter on how you put the parts together? Eventually.
That must be how we work in our grace group too. Eventually we get there. And then I think, well it’s not just men.
I remember reading many, many years ago that if women ever stopped buying beauty products, the Western economic system would collapse. There would be nothing there. But now men are buying so many beauty products, I think they’re a part of that problem too.
There’s a lot we can learn from Solomon. Solomon was anointed to be king after David. Now if you remember last week when we read and we saw that David said anoint Solomon to be king.
And he was anointed to be king. And it was rough. There was a lot of hardship he had to go through and it almost seemed like he didn’t have to, he wasn’t going to be king.
And finally he had this prayer that he that he had with God while he had this dream. And it really was a turning point of stepping into the anointing he had to serve the people of Israel. Will you stand as you are able? First Kings 3, 3 through 14.
Solomon loved the Lord. Walking in the statutes of his father David, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places. And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there for that was the great high place.
Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. As Gibeon, at Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night and God said, ask what I shall give you. And Solomon said, you have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father because he walked before you in faithfulness and righteousness and an 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 this day. And now O Lord my God you have made your servant king in place of David my father. Although I am but a little child, I do not know how to go out or come in.
And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people. Too many be numbered or counted for multitude. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people that I may discern between good and evil.
For who is able to discern this great, to govern this great, this your great people? It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this and God said to him, because you have asked this and have not asked for yourself a long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold I now do according to your word. Behold I give you a wise and discerning mind so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. I have also, I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you all your days.
And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days. The Word of God, inspired by God, for the people of God. Thanks be to God.
Amen. You may be seated. I don’t know if you remember the word from Ben Ahai last week when we were looking at David anointing Solomon, but they were pretty, pretty telling when it says, and Ben Ahai, the son of Jehoaday, answered the king, Amen.
May the Lord, the God of my Lord the King, say so. That there is a gap if you read, which everybody probably did, right? You read first Kings 1 all the way through and 2 and got into 3 and then 2. Thank you for doing that. You see that it’s a struggle and it almost appears like there’s something to these words.
Is God in on what is happening with Solomon? Is he anointed by a man or was he anointed by God and was God’s Spirit a part of that? And in 3, we finally see that God is there and God came to Solomon and I love the opening line here. It says Solomon loved the Lord walking in his statutes, in the statutes of David his father. And it says only he sacrificed on the high places because there was no temple yet.
And Solomon loved the Lord. So as he began to pray and he had this conversation in the dream with God, how do we see that he loved the Lord? How do we see that God was important with his anointing and how he was going to reign as king? At least at first in this anticipation. When Solomon starts talking and he asked this, it just reminds me of Micah 6 8, which you probably know so well.
He has told you, old man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. If you are saying a prayer, if you are beginning a prayer, if you are having a conversation with God and you want to be like Solomon in here where it says, and Solomon loved the Lord and walked with him. How are you doing it in between prayers? Are you doing justice? Are you loving mercy? Are you walking humbly with God? Now some people cherry-pick on which ones are those they might try to do, but when you separate them out it’s really, really hard to follow those and to actually love God in the midst of that.
God comes to Solomon and says, ask what I shall give you. As in, I’m gonna give you a spiritual gift. I’m gonna give you something that will allow you to do what you need to do.
And the first thing Solomon did, I mean, today sometimes it is hard to admit things thinking, well what if I get sued for that? Or what if I look like I don’t know what I’m doing? What if somebody wants to humiliate me on social media because I don’t know what I’m doing? And Solomon stood before God, very unking-like, and said, hey I’m but a child. He didn’t say these words, but these people, these Israelites, are stiff-necked people. We know how the history has gone with you and these people, and you’re asking me to lead them? I don’t know what I’m doing.
So if you want me to lead them as I should lead them, give me an understanding mind to govern your people. Now if you look at what he’s specifically saying, where he says, I don’t know how to go and how to go in and how to come out and how to do all this, that according to Paul our house, that’s an idiom referring to the skills of leadership. He’s basically got the most important leadership role in the world, and he and he’s humble just like all our presidents with the most important, okay.
And he says, I don’t know, I don’t know how to lead. I don’t know how to lead these people. If you want me to lead them, then you have to show me.
You have to give me wisdom. And look how he says this, how he describes wisdom. He says, so that I may discern between good and evil.
Now a lot of times in the world today we may think of wisdom as being smarter than someone else, but wisdom is applying the knowledge you have, and if it is true wisdom, then it’s applying the knowledge you have to bless others by the power of God. That is the wisdom that God will give us if we ask for it. And everything we do in our ministry should be by this kind of wisdom of discerning between good and evil, discerning between right and wrong.
And it almost sometimes seems silly to emphasize that, but again the definition of justice is not the same everywhere these days. The definition of justice is taken out of its context, and it just means justice means you let me do whatever I want to do, or if I am a certain in a certain state, then I can do whatever I want to do, and that’s justice. But justice is treating everyone as we would want to be treated.
Oh wait, that’s the golden rule. Justice means that we don’t give privilege to one over the other or treat someone differently than we would another, but justice is doing right and wrong, discerning between good and evil, discerning which is of God. In 1 Kings 3, we see in verse 9 that he says discern between good and evil, and then God comes back in 12 and says, behold, I now do according to your word.
Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you, and none like you shall arise after you. Doing justice is knowing the difference between right and wrong. It’s tough to do.
I mean, because growing up and when I learned about wars, the wars of the past, it’s easy when you read them to see, well, this is good and this is evil. But in our wars today, it’s so tough, because with terrorism and people fighting from within cities instead of on a battlefield, it’s not like one against the enemy. It’s mixing things up so there’s even more evil involved, that more innocent people can be killed.
Doing justice is what Solomon was called to do. Now, loving kindness, if you look at 3 verse 8, it says, and your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen a great people too many to be numbered by the multitude. When Solomon asked this, he’s thinking about the people.
He’s thinking about his neighbors. He’s thinking about not just how comfortable he can live, but how he can do right by the people. He wants to love the people, not just love the throne.
That is a tough thing to distinguish, and we see even Solomon has trouble with that later, and and we’ll talk about why as we continue to go forward. And finally, Micah 6 8 says, and walk humbly with your God. If you look at 3 and 4, it says, Solomon loved the Lord walking in the statue of his followers.
Only he made offerings in the high places, and the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, and the great high priest Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. And then in verse 7, it says, and now, O Lord, you have made your servant the king of David my father. Although I am but a child, I do not how to come and go.
And God responds and says, and if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commands, your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days. Now 2nd Samuel 23 5a reminds us of the covenant that God made with David that says, for does not my house stand so with God? For he is made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure. The covenant with David is that it would never have someone, fail to have someone on the throne that was his offspring.
But you have to follow me. You have to trust in me. As long as you do that, this covenant will hold.
That’s what you have to do to uphold your end of the covenant. Walking humbly with God is what God emphasizes. I mean, sometimes we look at Micah 6 8 and we think, okay, if we do justice and we love mercy, then we are walking humbly with God.
But if you look at the order of it here with Solomon, it says, if you walk humbly with God, you humble yourselves before God. You don’t assume you know more than God, and you don’t assume that God can’t give you direction no matter how long you’ve been following God or how great of a person you are. Then you can understand justice, which is discerning good and evil, and then you can love kindness like God calls you to love.
That humbling ourselves before God has to be the center of everything we do. Kara Bettis shares this about Gary Chapman, who wrote The Five Love Languages. Her article is entitled, Gary Chapman doesn’t know he’s famous.
It’s not that he’s ignorant, it’s that he’s humble. He’s been a household name since the mid-1990s after publishing his book that helped people discover their primary ways of giving and receiving love, The Five Languages. Love Languages sold 8,500 copies in its first year out, and more than doubled that its second year out.
And as of 2021, it was still the best-selling Christian book out there. Has anybody read that book? But Kara says that he’s constant. He’s lived in the same red brick house for more than 20 years.
He still counsels couples in the same Baptist congregation. He pastored for five decades in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He blocks off Sundays from his busy schedule so he can attend worship there, and even if he has to take a red-eye to get back there on time from his busy speaking schedule, he makes sure he does that.
Often he’ll stand at the door greeting parishioners after the service. He seems to have worn the same khakis for most of his life. Now she does say that he has a guilty pleasure that he cannot finish a lunch or a dinner without dessert.
So have a little grace with Mr. Chapman. He waters his backyard flowers in the mornings and pulls his kudzu. I had to look that up.
Those are viney weeds. He prays through his first round of daily calisthenics. I come to you in the name of Jesus, he recites, swinging his arms up and down, then he intercedes for people by name.
During heel raises, he covers some refugee camps and rescue missions. He does it all over again at night, and he says, but at night I’m just talking to God and praising God. He only does the calisthenics once.
She said that even when he retired in October 2021, not much changed about Gary. He kept his office and he kept counseling. Power, fame, seems to change a lot of people.
At first it didn’t change Solomon, but we’ll see how it eventually changed him and that that corrupted him. But I think the key for us is no matter what we see in life, no matter what we go through, no matter if we do great things or if we accomplish small things, that we walk humbly with God. Humility is kind of like meekness.
It’s not a praised quality in the world today, but it’s the only way we can walk with God. It’s the only way we can know wisdom, is to humble ourselves before God, to trust in God, and to let God guide our steps in all that we do. Let’s pray.
Almighty God, help us walk before you. Help us walk with you. Help us not get ahead of you or fall behind, but to trust in you.
Give us the wisdom to discern good and evil. Help us to love one another and to love our neighbors. Help us in all things, no matter what we do, to know that you, your ways are higher than our ways, your thoughts are higher than our thoughts, but that by your grace you will guide us, you will strengthen us, you will lead us, and all we have to do is humble ourselves in your presence, because you are so amazing, God.
In Jesus’ name, amen.