Be Careful What You Ask For

June 9

I Kings 3-4

Psalm 69:29-36

Proverbs 15:18-19

Acts 6

Be Careful What You Ask For!

“At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night.  God said, ‘Ask. What should I give you?’ Solomon replied, ‘Lord my God, You have made Your servant king in my father David’s place.  Yet I am just a youth with no experience in leadership.  So, give Your servant an obedient heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil.  For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?’”   I Kings 3:5,7,9 HCSB

When Brian and I had children, one of the issues we had to address was how we would deal with Santa Claus at our house.  There are lots of opinions about this and I’m not going to get into all of those, but what we decided is that we would have Santa at our house, but that we did not want to put a huge emphasis on him.  How we chose to deal with that is that the girls were allowed to ask Santa for one gift.  It could be a nice gift, something they really wanted, but they could only ask him for one thing.  Each year they had to really think about it and figure out what they wanted the most and then we would discuss it and decide if that was an appropriate thing for them to ask for.  Sometimes we would steer them in a different direction, but usually the thing they wanted was ok.  They knew they had to be careful what they asked for because they only got to ask for one thing.  We gave them other presents, too, but Santa only brought one thing, so they wanted it to be something they really wanted. 

I’m not suggesting God is like Santa in any way, so please don’t misunderstand me, but this interaction between God and Solomon made me think of the girls’ deliberations over Christmas presents.  God asked Solomon what he wanted.  He didn’t put any conditions on it at all.  He just said, “Ask.  What should I give you?”  Solomon could have asked for anything: riches, power, health, a big family, anything he wanted was his for the asking.  But he was very careful what he asked for.  His response suggests that he already had a measure of wisdom.  Most young men raised in a palace as a prince would not have the humility that Solomon exhibits here.  He recognizes that he is young and does not have leadership skills.  He acknowledges that he needs help to lead God’s chosen people.  Instead of asking for something that would benefit him, he asked for something that would benefit others.  It was an unselfish request that pleased God very much. As a result, God not only gave him wisdom, but He also gave him all the other stuff, too.  He blessed Solomon with riches, power, long life, and honor.  Like Solomon, we should be careful what we ask for.  Thankfully, unlike Santa, God knows what is truly best for us and He loves us too much to give us anything that is not in our best interests.  We do not always get what we ask for.  Like a loving Father, He gives us what we need, but the more time we spend with Him and in His Word, the more closely our requests are aligned with His plans for us and the more likely we are to ask for things that please Him.