"Every Leader's Request"

Scripture Passage

Psalm 83; 1 Chronicles 29:23-25; 2 Chronicles 1:1; 1 Kings 2:13-3:4;

2 Chronicles 1:2-6; 1 Kings 3:5-15; 2 Chronicles 1:7-13

Scripture Focus

     “Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?”
     The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom.
                                                               (1 Kings 3:9-10 NLT)

Observation

It’s completely familiar—a story I remember hearing as a boy in Sunday School class. God appears to Solomon in a dream and offers him whatever he might ask for. Wow! Can you understand how a story like that sparks the imagination of a preschool boy?

The beauty of the story, of course, is that Solomon asks for wisdom, which God grants—along with all the things most of us would be inclined to ask for instead of wisdom!

What I didn’t fully appreciate as a youngster was the incredible inadequacy Solomon must have felt taking the reins of Israel’s kingdom. What I never imagined as a boy was how complicated life would grow for me as an adult. (It’s only as an adult that I’ve begun to comprehend that maybe my dad *didn’t* always know exactly the right thing to do—in fact, I’m still not completely convinced he didn’t!)

And so my request echoes Solomon’s prayer—“Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern [lead] your people well and know the difference between right and wrong.”

May God be pleased to answer that prayer.