"Solomon: A Real Wise Guy"
Text: 1 Kings 3:4-15
1-4-2026
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Boy, can you imagine yourself in Solomon’s shoes? It’s the kind of thing that dreams are made of. The unbelievable question is: “If you could receive anything in the whole, wide world—including money, fame, and power—what would you ask for?” We sure could make up quite a list, couldn’t we? Things like: A Caribbean cruise... a brand-new pickup or sports car... a thousand acres of land... billions of dollars... and a few of us would be silly enough to ask to be President of the United States... or better yet... king over the whole world. Most of us would only ask for good things. But let’s face it, if we could ask for anything, we might just be tempted to get revenge on our old enemies, getting back at them for making life miserable for us. It might just be payback time if we could ask for anything and receive it.
Like the man who was walking along the beach and found an old brass lamp on the shore. He picked it up, rubbed the sand off, and poof—out came a genie. As usual, the genie says, “You may make 3 wishes for anything in the whole world.” But this genie added a little catch: “Whatever I give to you; your mother-in-law will get twice as much.” You guessed it. This guy did not get along with his mother-in-law. He thought for a minute and came up with his first wish. “Genie, I want a beautiful mansion to live in.” Poof! There appeared the largest mansion he had ever seen. But of course, his mother-in-law got two just like it. Then the man said, “Genie, I want 10 billion dollars.” Poof! There were piles and piles of money all around him. Of course, his mother-in-law got 20 billion. Needless to say, he was not happy with how she was benefitting from his good fortune. So, the man thought really hard and says, “Okay genie. For my last request I want you to beat me half to death.” Think about I, you’ll get it later.
The point is that we probably wouldn’t have totally pure motives behind our requests if we were offered the chance to ask for anything in the world. And yet, that’s exactly what God offered Solomon. God isn’t some genie in a lamp. He’s all-powerful and can grant any request, so this was a really sweet deal for Solomon. Also consider the fact that Solomon was only about 20 years old at the time and you can just imagine the wild possibilities he could have come up with. But instead, Solomon humbly asked for a wise, discerning heart so that he could be a good king over Israel. His request was totally unselfish, which also made it very God-pleasing.
Now what caused Solomon to pray such an unselfish prayer? Well, the text gives us several answers to that. First of all, notice how Solomon starts off his response to God’s magnificent offer. He begins with gratitude for all the many blessings that God had already bestowed on Solomon’s father David. And gratitude for those same blessings being passed on to Solomon as an inheritance. God had promised David that one of his descendants would always be king over Israel. That promise was being fulfilled in Solomon. It was also ultimately fulfilled when Jesus Christ, a descendant of David’s, came as the King of Kings. In Solomon’s prayer he in essence is saying, “Lord, you’ve already given me more than I deserve. How could I possibly ask for anything more?” His heart was filled with such deep gratitude that it led him to make such an unselfish request.
Next, please notice Solomon’s total humility. As I said, he was about 20 years old. But even though he had reached manhood, he still only looked at himself as a little child. Especially in light of the huge responsibilities he would have as king of Israel. It must have made him feel awfully small when he looked at the big shoes of his father David that he had to fill. We don’t know an exact number, but by then there had to have been several million people who were citizens of Israel. And not only that, but David had fought many successful wars which had proved that Israel was a powerful nation that you didn’t dare mess with. That’s a big reputation to live up to. Solomon could have been cocky about it, but he wasn’t.
Rather than being cocky, he recognized that he was only the servant of God. Although he may have been the new king of the nation, he still saw himself as God’s humble and unworthy servant. That’s so important and yet so lacking in our world today. It’s true of our leaders in the government and business. If they would recognize that they aren’t truly in charge, but that God is, they would do their job much more fairly and honestly. This even pertains to the Pastoral Office. Martin Luther certainly understood this. Listen to this prayer that he suggested all Pastors should pray regularly:
“Lord God, You have appointed me in the church as Bishop and Pastor. You see how unfit I am to attend to such a great and difficult office, and if it had not been for Your help, I would long since have ruined everything. Therefore, I call upon You. Of course, I want to put my mouth and heart to use. I shall teach the people, and I myself shall learn and meditate diligently on Your Word. Use me as Your instrument. Only do not forsake me; for if I am alone, I shall easily destroy everything.”
That’s the kind of humility that all of us Christians should have, especially our leaders in the church. And it’s the kind of humility that Solomon displayed in his prayer. He knew his place and he totally submitted to the authority of God. In the end, all he really asked for was God’s wisdom so that he could do his best as Israel’s leader. He called on the Lord for divine help so that he wouldn’t foul up this important job God had given him to do. Solomon’s humility and knowing his place in God’s plan caused him to pray such an unselfish prayer.
Well, God honored Solomon’s request because it pleased Him. Solomon had only asked for the tools he needed in order to be a faithful king over God’s people. That was totally unselfish and that’s why it pleased God so much. And God answered Solomon’s request, but He also gave this man more than he could have ever imagined. Already here in the Old Testament, the beautiful promise of Jesus in Matthew 6:33 was being fulfilled. Christ said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Solomon asked for Godly wisdom, which the Lord gave to him. But God added to that wisdom. Not only was Solomon wise and discerning in leading God’s people, but he was known to be the smartest man on earth about all kinds of stuff—like philosophy and botany. And that wasn’t all. God also added to Solomon’s life by giving him more riches and fame than he could have ever dreamed of asking for. All because he put God’s will first on his priority list.
Now let’s not be naive though. Yes, at this point and time Solomon showed that he had been raised to fear and trust in the Lord. But we also know he was a sinner. He failed in many ways as the leader of God’s people. Later we’re told that he took 700 women to be his wives and 300 concubines. Shoot, most of us men struggle to keep 1 wife happy let alone 1000! But that isn’t the issue here. The real problem was that these wives led him astray and got him to worship their foreign gods. It seems that he forgot his gratitude he had expressed to the true God. It just goes to show you that wisdom doesn’t equal common sense nor spiritual insight. The wisest man in the world was one of the most foolish men when it came to worshiping God and God alone.
We can learn a valuable lesson from Solomon’s life and his prayer. Because you see, God comes to us with a similar offer. In Matthew 7, Jesus tells us, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” Jesus is basically saying to us the same thing that was said to Solomon: “Ask for whatever you want me to give you that’s in line with my will for you.” The only question is: Will we ask for unselfish things which are God-pleasing?
Each and every day we too can pray a prayer like Solomon’s. We can begin by thanking God for all His wonderful promises that He has fulfilled already in our lives. The number one promise being that He sent His Son to live, die and rise again on our behalf. Because of that, you can daily pray to the Lord to forgive you all your sins for Jesus’ sake. And He will. Then thank God for lifting your burden of sin and guilt. We can also kneel humbly before God, recognizing that we are just His humble servants. It doesn’t matter if you’re 8 or 80, we all need to submit to God’s authority over us. Because when we do, then we can exercise our God-given vocations and positions of authority in a way that pleases God. He promises to honor that kind of prayer. He may not give you a wisdom that makes you smarter than everyone around you, but He does give you the all-important ability to discern right from wrong in your day-to-day life. God may not make you the richest person in the neighborhood, but He does give you the priceless treasure of your salvation. In all these ways, He has blessed us beyond our wildest dreams.
So, let’s thank and praise Him together for all of His undeserved gifts of love. And may we always use His gifts of wisdom and discernment for the glory of His holy name. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!