Asking for Something Better

2 Chronicles. That's in the Old Testament, not

to be confused with 2 Corinthians in the New

Testament. 2 Chronicles. We were actually there

last Sunday as well. 2 Chronicles chapter 1.

2 Chronicles 1 · chapter mention

We're going to be talking a little bit this morning

about King Solomon. Some of you may know of King

Solomon. He was the son of King David. 2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1. We're going to read through the first

12 verses, and then we'll kind of talk about

just the last few of those. But to get a little

bit of the context, we're going to read through

the first 12 verses. 2 Chronicles chapter 1,

2 Chronicles 1:1

verse 1. Solomon, son of David, strengthened

his whole on his kingdom. The Lord his God was

with him and highly exalted him. Then Solomon

spoke to all Israel, to the commanders of thousands

and of hundreds, to the judges and to every leader

in all Israel, the heads of the families. Solomon

and the whole assembly with him went to the high

place that was in Gibeon because God's tent of

meeting. which the Lord's servant Moses had made

in the wilderness, was there. Now David had brought

the ark of God from Kiriath -Jerim to the place

he had set up for it, because he had pitched

a tent for it in Jerusalem. But he put the bronze

altar, which Bezalel, son of Uri, son of Hur,

had made in front of the Lord's tabernacle. Solomon

and the assembly inquired of him there. Solomon

offered sacrifices there in the Lord's presence

on the bronze altar at the tent of meeting. He

offered 1 ,000 burnt offerings on it. That night

God appeared to Solomon and said to him, Ask,

what should I give you? And Solomon said to God,

You have shown great and faithful love to my

father David, and you have made me king in his

place. Lord God, Let your promise to my father

David now come true. For you have made me king

over a people as numerous as the dust of the

earth. Now grant me wisdom and knowledge so that

I may lead these people. For who can judge this

great people of yours? God said to Solomon, Since

this was in your heart, and you have not requested

riches, wealth, or glory, or for the life of

those who hate you, And you have not even requested

long life, but you have requested for yourself

wisdom and knowledge that you may judge my people

over whom I've made you king. Wisdom and knowledge

are given to you. I will also give you riches,

wealth, and glory, unlike what was given to the

kings who were before you or will be given to

those after you. Let's pray. God, we come to

you this morning. We thank you for these words.

I pray, God, that your Holy Spirit would be with

us today, that you would free us from the distractions

and the worries and the things of this world.

I pray, God, that you would help me to be focused

on you, dear Lord, that you would help my mind

and my heart to be right this morning, to preach

and teach in a way that brings glory and honor

to you, that you take any pride or any fear that's

within me, dear Lord, and that today when I open

my mouth, God, that you are the one who does

the talking. God, you know where we are in life.

You know what we need. And I pray, dear Lord,

that your Holy Spirit would just minister to

us today through your word in these next few

minutes. And I ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. Now, David had been a pretty good king

for Israel. Saul was the king before David. And

Saul, he didn't even really start off on too

good of a note. He had a little bit of a run,

but was not really a good king. was a good king,

but even David was not without fault. He had

some serious moral problems, some things that

he did, some sins that he committed. But nonetheless,

David was a godly man, and that's obvious to

us when we read the Psalms. We kind of can see

the heart of David in the Psalms. I'll give a

plug to our Sunday school class that is going

through the Psalms for the next few months. If

you haven't spent much time in the Psalms, I

would encourage you to read them. You may find

that you can really connect with those Psalms.

It's some beautiful things in there. It's some

beautiful praises to the Lord. It's some beautiful

prayers, some cries for hope in the Lord. We

can certainly... relate to who David was and

the way that he praised the Lord sometimes and

even in his failures. And David was a pretty

good king and David had desire to build a temple

for the Lord. Now you may remember earlier in

the Old Testament that as God's people were wandering

through the wilderness that God had given instructions

for the tabernacle. It was kind of like this

big tent that they would set up and it was very

specific. that they had to sit up and pick it

up and take it along with them. And up to this

point, they were still using this tabernacle.

And David desired to build a temple for the Lord,

but God said, no, David, I'm not going to let

you do that. It's going to be up to your son

Solomon that's going to do that. And so when

we see this chapter, when we first start out

here in 2 Chronicles, we're kind of reminded

that the old system is still in place, that the

temple has not been built yet. And Solomon is

just beginning to start to reign as the king

of the people. And so they're all gathered up.

They're offering these sacrifices to the Lord.

And the Lord asked Solomon a simple question.

He asked him, he said, look, what should I give

you? Now this is a... This is a fun question

for us to ponder and think about. If we could

have anything in the world, if we could have

anything that our heart desired, what would we

ask for? And here God asked Solomon, what do

you want? Now, I remember when I was a kid, one

of my favorite movies, so much so, and you might

have had kids that did this too, that I knew

every word of the movie. Like, I literally could

tell you every word of the movie, sang every

song from it, and that movie was Aladdin. It

came out in 1992, I think. And some of you probably

had kids or grandkids that remembered that movie,

but I loved that movie. And for those of you

who have not watched Aladdin, it's a Disney movie.

I'll tell you what happens. Aladdin finds a lamp.

And in this lamp is a genie. And when you rub

the lamp, the genie comes out, and the genie

will grant you three wishes. Now, even if you

haven't seen Aladdin, you're probably familiar

with that idea of a genie in the lamp and the

wishes that they will grant you. And Aladdin

made his three wishes, and the first was that

he wished to become a prince. And then there

was an occasion where he was drowning, and he

wished to be saved. And then, ultimately, he

became good friends with the genie, for the genie

to be delivered from the lamp, that he would

be free. And so the genie was freed from the

lamp. And so this idea of having wishes, and

sometimes we think things like that, and we think,

boy, if I had three wishes, if I had one wish,

what would that wish be? Now, God certainly is

not a genie in a lamp. And sadly, sometimes perhaps

we don't respect God enough to realize that.

I think for some people in this world, and maybe

even for some in this room sometimes, we stop

viewing God as God, the creator of the heavens

and the earth, who has created us, who we live

to serve and to follow him and to be obedient

to him. Sometimes I think people view God as

nothing more than a genie in a lamp, as though

God exists to serve us. Well, that's not what

the Scripture says. God creates us, and we exist

to serve God. But for some people, God is just

the big guy in the sky who I call on when I want

something. And God, here's what I want. And some

people treat God in just that way. They don't

praise God. They don't live in obedience to God.

They don't serve God. They don't fear God. That's

the problem. Fear of God is the beginning of

wisdom. They don't fear God, and they just call

on God, and they pray or whatever they do. God,

I want this. Would you help me to get this money?

Would you help me to win the lottery? Would you

help me to become famous? And then people get

angry at God because those are the types of prayers

that they pray. Those are the types of things

that they ask for, and maybe us too. We need

to look at our own prayer life. What do our prayers

look like? God, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme.

Now, don't get me wrong. God wants us to come

to him with our request. I don't think there's

any evil in saying, God, meet my needs. God,

if I need a new car or if I need some new clothes,

if my clothes are wore out, my car's broke down,

I don't think that it's evil for us to say, God,

I'm in a bind. These are things that I need.

God, I got to get to my work. I don't think it's

wrong for us to pray for the things that we need.

I don't think it's wrong for us to pray in that

way. But oftentimes the things we pray for may

not be needs at all. They may just be wants.

They may just be desires. And so we want that

fame. We want that fortune. We want that glory

for ourselves. And these are the types of things

that as humans that we may be tempted to request

of God. And if those are our requests to God,

if that's what our prayer looks like, God, give

me, give me, give me, then we're probably not

really being blessed in that. Sometimes people

get angry. God, why don't you do what I ask you

to? Well, the scripture says maybe you don't

receive because you've asked with a bad heart

so that you can use it for yourself. That's what

James chapter 4 verse 3 tells us. And so our

James 4:3

prayer life should never just be God give me.

It should be prayers of praise. It should be...

Thanking God for who he is. Yeah, make our requests

made known to God, those things that we need.

But too many times we don't really view God as

God. And we need to first establish that God

is God. There needs to be fear there. There needs

to be some respect there. There needs to be the

knowledge that we know. That God is not our genie

in a lamp. He does not exist to serve us, but

he has given his son Jesus Christ for us so that

we can faithfully follow and serve him and live

for him. Now Solomon here is kind of faced with

that idea, if we can call it that, that here's

what I'm asking you, Solomon. What do you want?

If I can give you anything, what do you want?

And maybe that's a good question for us to ponder

today and maybe this week. What if God were to

ask you that question? What if God were to come

to you tonight in a dream and he were to say,

what do you want? What would your answer be?

Now, I know what your church answer would be.

You would say good stuff. Oh, I want to love

people better. But what's really in our heart?

What really do we desire? What do we focus on?

What gets most of our attention during the day?

That's probably a good indication of where our

heart really is, what our focus is really on.

And Solomon here really gave a beautiful answer.

Now, he could have asked for anything. He could

have said, make me the most powerful king, make

me the wealthiest king. Destroy my enemies. God

help me to live forever. He could have asked

for all of these types of things that maybe you

and I would ask for. But Solomon, he at least

had a little wisdom even before he got to be

king. Because he asked for wisdom. We see that

in the last few verses. God said, what do you

want? And Solomon said, look, God, you have placed

me in charge of all of these people. It's a lot

of them. God, this job is way too hard for me.

I don't know what to do. I don't know how to

lead these people. So God, would you give me

wisdom? Would you give me knowledge? That's what

we see in the scripture here in verse 10. Now

grant me wisdom and knowledge so that I may lead

these people for who can judge this great people

of yours. Now that's a good request. How many

of us would that be our request coming into the

building today before this scripture? Would we

have thought, yeah, that's what I want to ask

for. I want to ask for wisdom and knowledge.

We would have probably thought of a lot of things

to ask for. But even in asking for that, Solomon

shows that he has some wisdom. He says, God,

I cannot do anything without you. I need you.

So God, give me the wisdom to lead these people.

And this pleased the Lord. And we see this. In

the Lord's response in the next verse. Verse

11. God said to Solomon, Since this was in your

heart, and you have not requested riches, wealth,

or glory, or for the life of those who hate you,

and you have not even requested long life, but

you have requested for yourself wisdom and knowledge

that you may judge my people whom I have made

you king, wisdom and knowledge are given to you.

Now, that was a good request. God heard that

request, and that was a request from a good heart.

God said, because this was in your heart, because

your heart is in the right place, that I'm going

to grant your request. I'm going to give you

wisdom, and I'm going to give you knowledge.

Now, there's a difference between those two things,

wisdom and knowledge. Knowledge is good. Knowledge

is good, but what do you do with that knowledge

that makes the difference? You see, we can all

have knowledge. There's a lot of people in the

world who have knowledge of God, who have knowledge

of the Word of God, but they don't fear God.

They don't live by the Word of God. There's a

lot of times in our life as Christians that we

know what God calls us to. We have a knowledge

of it, but that knowledge does not do us any

good if we don't put it into practice. If what

we know, if we don't do what is right with what

we know, then it fails to become wisdom. I think

that's kind of what wisdom is. When you do the

right thing based on the knowledge that you have,

that is wisdom. And so there's a difference between

knowledge and wisdom. There's a lot of people

in this world who are knowledgeable, but they

may not be wise. Here's a good example, a good

definition between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge

is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is

knowing not to put it in a fruit salad. There's

the difference right there. So we don't want

to just be those who have knowledge. We want

to be those who take that knowledge, who have

the knowledge of the Word of God and the example

of Jesus Christ, and we want to live that knowledge

out. We want to be wise and listen to what it

says and do what it says. And that's exactly

what Solomon is asking for here. He says, God,

I want wisdom and I want knowledge. And God says,

because your heart is right, because this is

what's in your heart, Solomon, I'm going to give

this to you. And look what follows that. Not

only does he say he's going to give him wisdom

and knowledge in verse 12. He says, Wisdom and

knowledge are given to you. I will also give

you riches, wealth, and glory, unlike what was

given to the kings who were before you or who

will be given to those after you. So isn't that

a beautiful thing? That Solomon didn't ask for

the riches and the wealth and the fame, but nonetheless

God was going to bless him with that anyway.

Now there's something to be said for wisdom.

Wisdom oftentimes may lead to better choices

that may result in some of those things, just

wisdom alone. And so Solomon's wisdom certainly

was going to help him, and I think God blessed

him abundantly above and beyond what his own

wisdom would have gotten because his heart was

right, because he asked for a good thing, because

he asked for a right thing. Proverbs chapter

Proverbs 4:7

4 verse 7 says this, Wisdom is supreme, so get

wisdom. And whatever else you get, get understanding.

James chapter 1 verse 5 says, Now if any of you

James 1:5

lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives to

all generously and without criticizing, and it

will be given to him. So what are we asking for

in our life today? That question is before us

too. What are our requests to God today? Are

we asking God for the things of the world? Are

we asking God for things that are for ourself?

Or do we fear God and seek him and seek knowledge

and seek wisdom to live by what his word says?

Maybe our prayers are not heard or not answered

because the things we request are not from a

good heart, but from an evil heart. And we need

to follow the words of James, that if we would

seek God and we would seek him and we would ask

him for wisdom, then we would receive that wisdom.

So maybe we need to check our prayer lives. We

need to check what's most important to us. Maybe

there's too much foolishness in our life today.

Maybe we need that wisdom like Solomon had. Maybe

that needs to be where we start. God, help me

not just to have some knowledge, but help me

to have wisdom, dear Lord, that I make good choices,

that I make the right decisions, that I live

in obedience to you and in service to you. And

the greatest example of God's wisdom throughout

all of Scripture is Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians,

Paul says, look, the cross is foolishness to

those who are perishing. But it is God's power

to those who are being saved. And then he goes

on later to say in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 24,

1 Corinthians 1:24

Yet those who are called, both Jews and Greeks,

Christ is God's power and God's wisdom. If we

want wisdom, it must start with Jesus Christ.

If we want wisdom, we can't live by the ways

in the world and the things of the world. And

to many people in this world, this message of

wisdom and the cross of Jesus Christ seems like

foolishness. And I hope it's not any here today.

I hope that it's not any listening online. But

maybe for much of your life, you've thought that

God's word has sounded like foolishness. But

maybe today God is speaking to you and he's helping

you to realize that Without Jesus Christ, we

are helpless and we are hopeless. Now, we've

all made foolish decisions in our life. We know

where our foolishness gets us. And our foolishness

in this case is going to get us separation from

God for all of eternity. But the wisdom in Jesus

Christ will bring with it eternal life. It'll

bring with it forgiveness of sins. It'll bring

with it peace and joy. Those are the things that

accompany salvation through Jesus Christ. Those

are the things that accompany wisdom. There is

nothing that feels worse than making a foolish

decision. But there is nothing that gives you

more peace than knowing that you have acted wisely.

That you have done the right thing. That you

have followed the words of God and the instructions

of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit. It

is a beautiful thing when we live in accordance

to wisdom. So maybe today we would fall into

the trap of, if we could have anything, asking

for things of the world. But what would benefit

us more than anything is the wisdom and knowledge

that comes through Jesus Christ. So may we follow

the example of Solomon today to seek God first,

to know that we are nothing without him, that

we will not be successful in anything that we

do without him, but that we need his wisdom in

every aspect of our life. Let's pray. God, we

come to you. We thank you for your good word.

I pray, dear Lord, that you would help us to

learn from the beautiful example we see of Solomon

in your word today, God. that you want us to

bring your request to you this morning. And God,

sometimes we may be guilty of being selfish in

our request, dear Lord. Sometimes we may be guilty

of not treating you with the reverence that we

should, dear Lord. But help us never to look

at you, God, as just one who is there to grant

our wishes, dear Lord. That is not who you are,

God. So forgive us if we've ever fallen into

that trap. I pray, God, that you would help us

to fear you, dear Lord, so that we could begin

to see what wisdom really is, dear Lord. I pray,

God, that you would just be with us today to

check our lives, to check our hearts, to see

if there's anything that shouldn't be there.

And I pray that you would just work in our hearts

and transform our hearts to make us be more like

Solomon was, that our heart would request things

that are, that are better than the things of

the world, dear Lord. So I pray, God, today we

would seek wisdom. I pray for anyone who does

not know Jesus Christ, that they would realize

today they're living in foolishness. And I pray

that you would help them to seek the wisdom that

is Jesus Christ and only in Jesus Christ. That,

God, the cross was necessary. It is not foolish.

It is your power. It is our hope, dear Lord.

To know that Jesus Christ gave his life on the

cross and was crucified so that our sins could

be forgiven. So God, I pray that if there are

any that do not know that wisdom today, that

they would experience that wisdom right now.

That they would repent of their sins and ask

Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior. That

they would make that decision to follow him today.

And God, I pray that you would help us. Maybe

we have some knowledge of your word. But maybe

we have not been putting it into practice, dear

Lord. Maybe even in knowledge we've acted foolishly.

But God, we don't want to be those who know and

are foolish. But we want to be those who know

and are wise, dear Lord. So I pray that you would

bless each one of us here today. That you would

pour wisdom out on us. That you would let the

Holy Spirit lead and guide us. That we would

be able to discern what is of you, dear Lord.

that we would be able to follow what your commands

are, that we would seek you in everything, dear

Lord, that we would know that you are our strength

and you are our guidance. And just as that was

the only way Solomon was going to be successful,

God, that is the only way that we will be successful

today. So I pray, God, that you would pour wisdom

out upon us, that you would help us to be a people

who seek your wisdom in all we do. And I ask

these things in Jesus' name. Amen.