If You Were a Solomon

(Picture credits at end of post)

If You Were a Solomon

I have asked myself numerous times what I would ask for if God asked me the question He asked Solomon:

In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, “Ask what [you wish] Me to give you.” (1 Kings 3:5 – NASB)

Solomon asked for a discerning heart so he could rule God’s people wisely. With this God was pleased, as His response to Solomon demonstrates:

God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice, ¹² behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. (1 Kings 3:11-12 – NASB)

Solomon later forsook the LORD and worship idols his many wives had brought from foreign lands. Perhaps he should have asked for faithfulness of heart in addition to the gift of discernment.

The question remains however what you and I would answer if God were to ask us the question He asked Solomon? Indeed, I believe our Lord is asking each of us that question today, and it behooves us to give serious thought to what our answer would be.

Knowing my own vulnerabilities I have settled on my own reply to this question. I have already given my answer to God: “Lord, please enable me to love people as You love them, and the purity of heart you spoke of in the beatitudes.”

The answer we give God may differ according to each of our temperaments and according to our knowledge of our own weaknesses. We must, however give an answer that will please God, as Solomon’s answer pleased Him.

If I were a Solomon

(© Tuesday 2^nd December 2014 – by Christopher Shennan)

In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, “Ask what [you wish] Me to give you.” (1 Kings 3:5 – NASB)

If I were in Solomon’s place,

And God were to give me the choice,

“What would you choose from My hand?”

How would I respond to His voice?

Now what would my answer still be,

If I prayed and sought His dear will?

Would the answer I give be true?

Would the thing that I ask my soul fill?

I have prayed and thought this thing through;

Only two things I hunger to find:

I want God’s love in large measure,

And purity of heart and mind.

It may be you’d choose something else,

The thing that is noble and true;

Whatever it is it must please

The One who will give it to you.

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“The Judgment of Solomon,” (1649) by Nicolas Poussin. The photograph of this art work is in the public domain.