What if you had a wish? Anything was yours, all you had to do was ask.
Would you wish for life-changing riches so you and your family were taken care of and that you’d have plenty to help those around you?
Would you ask for a long and healthy life so you would never have to face the pain of a broken body?
Would you ask for success in work, in business, or talent in a skill or sport so you could be at the top of your field?
Solomon was given a wish. This wish was from God Himself when he first became king as a young man.
His father David had just died a powerful, successful and beloved king and leader of God’s people. Now, Solomon found himself in the shoes of his great father while those around him coveted his position. You remember…
“At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.” (1 Kings 3:5 ESV).
This was his one wish. He was a man full of worry, doubt and steeped with feelings of inadequacies. And so, he asks…
“Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” (1 Kings 3:9 ESV).
He could have asked for a long life, riches or to be set above his enemies. But he asks for wisdom. And his request to this wish warmed the Creator’s heart:
“It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.” (1 Kings 3:10 ESV).
What was it that pleased the Lord about his wish? I suspect that it is the same thing that warms His heart when we ask Him things today.
We ask the Lord for many things, which we are encouraged by God to do. Some of those things are for us. But at the heart of Solomon’s request was for a gift that benefited others. He wanted wisdom, not for his own glory, but to serve the people of God.
When we go to the Lord in prayer for our wish, do we ask that we might consume our ask upon our own desires or do we ask for the benefit of others and for the glory of God?
We all have been invited to bring our wishes to God. Will we have the heart of Solomon and ask for things that please the Lord or will we ask for things that benefit ourselves?
Never underestimate the power of God and never underestimate that which pleases Him.
I was reading the book of Obadiah this morning. It is a book of judgment against the people of Edom for their sins against Israel in the time of need and distress.
God says that His judgment against the people of Edom would be utter and complete. Unlike Israel who would have a remnant preserved, Edom would be destroyed so that there would not even be gleanings of the grapes left after the gatherers came.
This is a poetic way of saying that God would wipe Edom off the face of the earth because of their sins. And that is what happened. The Herods who ruled over Israel were the last of the lineage of the Edomites and once they faded from history, the Edomites as a people were lost to history. The prophecy of Obadiah was fulfilled.
But here is the chilling warning to those of us who live in America. Edom was a proud nation because they lived in the mountains making it nearly impossible for any enemy to attack and conquer them. This made Edom prideful and arrogant.
“The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, “Who will bring me down to the ground?” (Obadiah 1:3 ESV).
Today, we are separated by two oceans from the world and we dwell in a land where our military might make us a fortress unlike any nation that ever existed. But God would show Edom that they were never so safe that God could not touch them.
“Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the LORD.” (Obadiah 1:4 ESV).
God performed His will upon Edom, even in their arrogance and pride. No prophet has spoken against America, but let us not fall into the pride and arrogance that condemned the people of Edom by putting our faith and trust in the fortress we have built up for ourselves. For nothing can escape the might and power of our King who is Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
“The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” (Luke 10:17 ESV).
Have you ever had that feeling? Maybe not having demons subject to you in the name of Jesus, but getting excited when you realize what you are able to do as a follower of Jesus?
Things that without Him, you’d say, “There is NO way I could do that!”
There is No way I could break this sinful habit!
There is NO way I could step in to serve others so unselfishly!
There is NO way I could proclaim the Gospel to anyone and watch it take root in them!
But then you overcome the habit that had enslaved you for years,
Or you found yourself in a position to be the one who brought comfort to someone suffering just when they needed help,
Or you mentioned Jesus to someone and why He is Lord of your life, and someone is pricked in the heart and makes Jesus their Lord and King too.
And all you can do is feel like the 72 who said with unbridled excitement, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” as though you are experiencing the most amazing thing in your life…
I know Jesus grins from ear to ear when we find that kind of amazing astonishment and realize what we are truly capable of accomplishing in His name,
And then He whispers in our ear as a proud father who is sharing in our joy,
“Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:20 ESV).
What a Savior we serve Who equips us for every good work and writes our names in heaven because we never slip through the cracks in His sight.
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 ESV).
Faith. That word means a lot of things to a lot of people.
To some, faith is a belief. “I believe that God is, therefore I have faith.”
To some, faith is a belief that God will do for them what they want God to do. “I have faith God will give me this, or do this for me.”
To some, faith is a belief system that they choose to live by. “This is the faith belonging to me and my family.”
But whatever faith truly is, God tells us through His inspired writer that without it, it is impossible to please Him.
The rest of Hebrews 11 shows us what this God-pleasing faith is.
This faith is not merely a belief system, though the true belief system is the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
Faith is not merely the belief that God will do what you want Him to do, though we pray without wavering that God is able to do all things we bring before Him in prayer according to His will.
And faith is not merely a belief in God, for even the demons believe in God, and tremble in His presence.
The faith in Hebrews 11, the faith that is impossible to please God without having, is a faith that causes us to live in obedience because:
1. God gives us instructions for our lives.
2. We obey even when threatened and even when we have to suffer for choosing to live His way because we know God will be faithful in all He has promised.
The faith that pleases God says, “I will turn away from the evils of society and live a godly life because I know that God is, and He is a rewarder when I diligently seek Him.
The faith that pleases God says, “Even if I am the only one who will live for God, and obey Him, I will because I know He has a heavenly home in store for those who live under His rule.”
The faith that pleases God says, “I will steadfastly serve the Lord even when I must suffer for it because I know that the true victory is for the obedient who persevere.”
Faith that pleases God is a faith that says, “I will not let my present circumstances dictate my dedication to the Lord; rather, I will let my dedication to the Lord dictate my present circumstance.”
The faith that pleases the Lord is a faith that causes us to remain steadfast because we know in the end, God is faithful in all that He promises.
I pray that as our society turns on the children of God more and more, we continue to find the faith that pleases God.
How many times do we think the way that Job’s friends thought? They reasoned that if you are faithful to God, you will be rewarded by being given riches and good health. And if you suffer loss, or remain without possessions, you are being punished by God.
They reasoned that health was the reward of a good and righteous person and illness or death was the condemnation of the wicked. But look at this verse I read in my daily Bible reading this morning:
“He said, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” (1 Kings 19:10 ESV).
Elijah is afraid of Queen Jezebel who has laid him under a death sentence. We read this passage and say, “You were not alone! God has kept alive 7000 faithful servants who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
And while this is true, and worthy to mention, oftentimes we read right past the words, “and killed your prophets with the sword.”
There were, indeed, faithful people who were killed because of their faithfulness. What do we say of these people? Was God with them? They were slaughtered and their lives were not spared by God.
Their wives and their children had to endure the pain of their loss. Their family’s lives were upended and changed in a moment, yet they had to endure their loss for years and decades to come.
I don’t bring this out to paint a bleak picture of serving the Lord. On the contrary, I want us to see victory and power in this observation. If we measure our faithfulness by the way our lives reap reward or suffer loss, then we will undoubtedly miss the power of Jesus in our lives.
Glory and honor are given to Jesus, not in how much we are prospering, but in how faithful we serve, whether in riches or poverty, sickness or health. It is in the steadfastness of our faith that comes no matter what circumstance we find ourselves in.
And if we have to suffer the ultimate loss and lay down our life, we do so in victory and faithfulness in King Jesus.
Only then can we see the words littered throughout Scriptures that say something to the effect, “and killed your prophets with the sword” and not see defeat, but victory.
Whatever we face today, whatever we are called to endure, it is not the sum of our circumstances that define our status in the Kingdom of Jesus; rather, it’s the unwavering commitment to Him in all circumstances that gives us the power and victory that not even Satan himself can wrestle away from us.