Teague Bible Church

 

   Solomon’s Fantastic Start    Teague Bible Church      10/13/13

 

We have finished 1^st and 2^nd Samuel and now want to see the results of David’s overall faithfulness to the Lord have good influence on his son. Solomon had to make his own choices too, and he did well for years, but ended badly because He lost his focus of pleasing the Lord in a daily walk.

 But today we see the most fantastic thing; God Himself offers to Solomon anything he wants, and Solomon answers in the most unusual way.

 

Apply this to yourself as we go along today. What if you could have anything you wanted? What would you ask for? What would be revealed about you when you made your request?

 

 

David’s charge to his Son

 

READ I Kings 2:1-4

 

v.2   “ ,,, show yourself a man.” Reminds us of the charge given to Joshua;

               first by Moses and then by the Lord. This is when we usually get a bit

                   insecure and start to think more detail would help.

                     Joshua got little detail at the start of his mission. He got help along the way.

 

                      Why does God do that? Why not a lot of detail before we

                            get started on our mission?

 

             I Corinthians 16:13   “ Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.”

 

v. 3-4  The promise sounds conditional and unlikely to be fulfilled, if it depends solely on Solomon.

              But the original promise was unconditional in II Samuel 7:14-16. How could it be both?

                  Personal loss for Solomon, but the plan of God continues. Check I Kings 11:1-13.

 

Point: God keeps His promises to seat a son of David on the throne even in the mist of disobedient Israel and disobedient

                 kings. That final son of David was none other than Jesus Christ our Lord!  Matthew 1:1-2 , Romans 1:1-4

 

II Timothy 2:13  “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”

 

 

READ I Kings 2:10-12  Death of David; Solomon’s throne firmly established

 

Solomon ruled  965-925 B.C. / His name means “Peaceable”

                                                     His other name was Jedidiah which

                                                        means  “ Beloved of Jehovah.”

 

 

 MAIN TEXT TODAY:  I Kings 3:1-15

 

Solomon’s Rule Consolidated

 

v.3  A marriage to foreign women taken in war was allowed ( Deut. 21:10), but she was

             to be given full rights. But this is just for political expediency. Scripture is clear

                 that they were not to marry foreign women, because of the corruption and

                   temptation to the men to worship foreign gods. ( Exodus 34:16, Deut. 7:3)

 

This was the reason for the downfall of Solomon we read about in chapter 11.

 

But at this early stage ,Solomon had his heart right before God, and the Lord offered him something

   most could only dream about!

 

v.5  “Ask what you wish Me to do for you”  I Kings 3:1-15

 

        WOW! A real blank check and yet a revealing of a good heart. Reflecting the fact that he had

                 spent a lot of time with God.

 

The psychological principle is:

     You spend a lot of time with someone you admire and you become like them.

        Certainly true of Solomon at this stage of his life as he spent time with God.

 

A request that transformed him and brought the most long-term good!

 

650 prayers in the Bible and this is one of the best!

 

As with Philippians 4:4-6 he starts with remembering the past, ( “with thanksgiving”) then help for an unsure present set of circumstances, then a desire to see a future that honors God. Assumed in all of this, is the fact that God knows more about what will make him happy than he could know himself.

 

He prayed not for things to be attached to him, or a perfect set of circumstances around him, but things to transform his life at the core of his being!

 

All this wisdom had to be tested out, in real life test experiences, for it to be a true possession and integrate into his life.

 

EXAMPLE: We have a Marine with us today that has just completed an incredible journey of pain, struggle, and hardship, the likes of which we have only read about. The “Crucible” it is called.

 

I said, “I will make a deal with you Marine. Let us assume I have the power to remove the painful training you have experienced the last 13 weeks or so, and you wake up tomorrow without anybody ever being the wiser. In other words, everybody, except you, will believe you actually went through all that pain and treat you like a deserving Marine.”

 

 (He answered he would not want the pain taken away.)

 

Can anybody figure out why this Marine we have here today answered this way?

 

 

Civil War poem by an unknown soldier:

 

I ask for strength that I might achieve;

I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey

I asked for health that I might do greater things;

I was given infirmity that I might do better things.

I asked for riches that I might be happy; I was given poverty that I might be wise

I asked for power that I might have the praise of men; I was given weakness that I might feel the need for God.

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life; I was given life that I might enjoy all things.

I got nothing I ask for, but everything that I had hoped for.

Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered; I am, among all men, most richly blessed.

 

Solomon got a lot of things he did not ask for ; just thrown in for free.

 

C.S.Lewis  “ You put first things first you get second things thrown in for free.

                        You put second things first and you lose both first and second things.”

 

Example: I moved to the Northwest praying to honor God to serve and be spent for the Lord’s purposes. I saw see people saved and grow in

His grace. I did not go expecting to receive anything as I worked , except power to do the work.

I was given that, the whole 11 years, but also given things I never ask for. An adventure of a lifetime!

 

John 15: 7-11

 

I John 5:14

 

Matthew 6:33