I Kings 3.7-9
“Now, O LORD my God, You have made Your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give Your servant a discerning heart to govern Your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of Yours?”
We get insight into the heart of Solomon in his early days of becoming king. Taking on leadership of an entity can make the best of men become full of anxiety and fear. The leading of a nation under God was no small thing. It was overwhelming. A nation under God is responsible first of all to please the LORD, to do right, to protect the weakest among us including the unborn.
A nation under God has a Higher calling than the other nations, its leaders, greater responsibility as well as its citizens.
Solomon realized this. He cried out to God for help after the LORD appeared to him.
Up to now he did not have the wisdom necessary to lead the people of God. As we shared last week, David got his training out in the fields, taking care of the sheep. He, like Moses, learned how to lead Israel from his experience as a shepherd.
Psalm 78.70-72
He chose David His servant and took him from the sheep pens; from tending the sheep he brought himto be the shepherd of His people Jacob, of Israel His inheritance. And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.
Solomon did not have that benefit. The palace has its disadvantages. Moses was in the palace of Pharaoh but he learned more about leading Israel from tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro than he did in the private classes of Egyptians. In fact he had to "unlearn" much of that which he learned in the palace. He was in the wide open spaces now.
There is no substitute for on the job training. God has interesting ways of preparing men to lead. Suffering, difficulty, learning how to stand alone, things we would not sign up for are often the very things God uses to fashion a leader.
So, here was Solomon, king of Israel, with only his own wits and the experience of watching his father, David rule Israel as far back as he could remember and with the final words his father David about being fully committed to following the LORD.
God told Solomon He would give him whatever He asked for.
Solomon realized the great need in his life was help from the LORD to lead Israel. It is fitting when heads of state pray. It is right when they ask sincerely that God would help them.
This is a New Testament principle and promise:
James 1.5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, Who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
Solomon understood this and so his heart's cry teaches us several lessons.
1. Acknowledge That Your Success In Your Life Is Due To God. v.7
David did this.
II Samuel 7
“Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”
*Solomon followed his example. Solomon realized that it was God Who had placed him as king over Israel. David had simply carried out God's will in appointing him.
It is so wise to realize the Hand of God in our lives. Blessed are the people who have a leader like that!
We ought to follow Solomon's example! Don't just look on the screen, realize there is a whole bunch of stuff going on behind the screen producing what we see. We are not here by chance. We are here by Divine Appointment. God sovereignly works all things together for good for us and others who are the called according to His purposes. Jesus has all power and authority in heaven and on earth.
It is in both our attitude, our thinking and our actions.
Think of it: To work in the Garden Adam had to bend his knee and kneel, to pick the fruit on the tree God told them not to eat of, he had to stand up and instead of reaching to the LORD His God, He had to reach for that which the LORD had forbidden. In reaching for that fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, Adam attempted to make himself equal with God, the very thing Jesus did not grasp when He humbled Himself and came to earth as a Servant.
*It is always proper to assume the position of a servant. It is right in so many ways. It is appropriate.
Solomon not only realized his royal position was due to the LORD's Hand, he referred to himself as God's servant. Humbling ourselves in the face of promotion is right. Daily humility is the right path to take.
Being a servant puts me at the lowest point. It fulfills this directive in God's Word in Philippians 2.3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
How we struggle with our own self importance! God help us die to it and in so doing peace and joy.
2. Confess Your Inadequacies.
It is not a sign of weakness.
It is facing reality.
I am only a little child.
Solomon was a full grown man but he looked at himself in leading Israel as a child.
A child is
*dependent on his parents
*In need to much care from his elders
*In need of counsel and advice
*unable to take on huge problems
*loving
I do not know how to carry out my duties.
Interesting that in the next chapter he is sets up his administration.
He went to the LORD for direction.
God gave him direction.
As the technology continues to explode all around us we need wisdom from the LORD on how to use it. Doors are open for ministry for little churches like ours in ways we never dreamed of!
Like the Word of God to Habakkuk 1.5 “Look at the nations and watch–and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told."
If God told us 20 years that what you heard this month in this little fellowship, would be read by people from The Philippines, Germany, Japan, Russia, The Ukraine, Sweden, Singapore, China and Israel, we would not have believed it.
We need His Help in this present age.
3. Admit The Obvious
Without Christ we can do nothing.
John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."
With God all things are possible.
Luke 1:37 For with God nothing will be impossible.
Our hearts ought to be continually crying out for help from the LORD.
Humble beginnings:
80 years ago this weekend an ice cream man here in the Metro New York Area was selling ice cream out of his truck. His truck got a flat tire. He ended up in the parking lot of a pottery shop. The owner of the shop allowed him to use the electricity from his store so he opened his parked truck for business. For two days he sold the melting ice cream to vacationers driving by until he ran out!
He discovered three things.
People loved the soft ice cream.
A fixed location worked well.
His profits increased due to the increased sales and the lack of wear and tear on his truck.
His name was Athanassios Karvelas, a Greek Immigrant. But you may know him better as his Americanized nameTom Carvel.
80 years ago this weekend, Carvel Ice Cream had its start (from a flat tire!)
You never know what God may do with humble beginnings!
We'll never know in our lives unless we do.
Solomon a little child, gave us the Book of Proverbs!
Humble yourself and God can use you in ways you never dreamed of!
