Solomon’s Request
What would you ask God for?
Verse of the Day
‘So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong.’
Today’s Devotional
Solomon became the king of Israel after his father, David. As king, he went to an important place of worship in Gibeon to worship God and offer sacrifices to honor God. After a day of worship and sacrifice, God appeared to Solomon in a dream and said,
“What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!”
Let’s just stop right there and be honest with ourselves. What would your answer be if God came to you in a dream and asked that question of you? I honestly don’t know what my answer would be. If you pressed me, right in this moment my answer would be a better awareness of God’s love for me.
Solomon asked for wisdom. He asked for a discerning heart so that he could do his job well, the job God asked him to do. I find that very humbling.
The thing that stands out to me today about this story is something that I have never noticed before. God came to Solomon in a dream AFTER some intense worship. Now, I am not suggesting that if you have a powerful time of worship that God is going to come to you in a dream and ask you what He can give you. I AM going to suggest that worship comes before discernment. And during discernment. And after we have been given Godly wisdom.
I truly believe that worship needs to be an integral part of our lives. Worship is not limited to music that is sung in church. A pastor at our church says that worship is simply “the turning of our attention to God”. Using that definition, which I love, I can worship anytime and anywhere. When I see a sunrise, I can turn my attention to God and thank Him for His artistry. When I see someone being really kind to another human, I can turn my attention to God and ask for Him to show me how to behave with a similar amount of kindness, and I can thank Him for reminding me that there is goodness in this world. There is no limit to the ways that I can turn my attention to God all throughout the day. Even prayer could be considered worship.
What if, as we are seeking to see with spiritual eyes, we make an intentional effort to worship as many times a day as we can? God is worthy of our praise and attention. And maybe, as my perspective shifts to a more deliberate focus on God all throughout the day, the wisdom I seek will become more evident. But whether we find the answers we seek or not, God is worthy of our worship.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
If God asked you what He could give you, what would your answer be?
How can you seek wisdom for the job God has asked you to do?
How can you turn your attention to God more deliberately today?
How does praising God affect your perspective?