If You Could ask for Anything, What Would You Ask For? (1 Kings 3: 1-28)

Imagine—just imagine—that God Himself came to you and said, “Ask Me for anything you want… and I will give it to you.”  

Your first reaction might be, “Well, that’s not how God works.” And of course, you’d be right. But there is one moment in the Old Testament where God does actually do that for someone. God comes to a man and says, “Ask for whatever you want Me to give you.” And the way that man responds teaches us something really important about what we should desire—and what God delights to give.

 That story is found in 1 Kings chapter 3….

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(Cont.) If You Could ask for Anything, What Would You Ask For? (1 Kings 3: 1-28)

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Before we begin today, and thank you to those who have come on board in February and become part of our patriot community. Hello and welcome to Stephen. To Mary. To another Mary, Mary WW, you know who you are. To John, to Hannah, to Nellie, to Julie, to Paul, to Jeffrey, to Claudia, to Jill, to Debbie, to Kathleen, and to Dave. Thank you and thank you for becoming part of this supportive, wonderful Patreon community. And a special thank you to those who have come on board in February and have decided to financially support this work as well. A special shout out and thank you to David, to Astra, and to Hannah. You know, I really couldn't do it without you. This whole ministry and my ability to dedicate my full time to this work and to these podcasts is thanks to people like you. I really couldn't do it without you. And now on with the main episode. And I've titled today's Bible study, If you could ask God for anything, what would you ask for? So let me begin today by asking you exactly that question. I suspect you've heard that question at least once in your life. Maybe when you were a child, maybe at Christmas, maybe before a birthday, someone looks at you and says, So what do you want? And of course, when we're young, the answers come quickly. Toys, games, gadgets. But as you grow older, the answers change. I wonder if someone were to ask you that question today and if they were to say to you, if you could have anything, what would you ask for? I suspect your answer might be very different. Some people, it's true I would say, would just say, Give me money, give me financial security. I think that's the reason and the desire that lies behind the fact that many millions of people around the world play lotteries every week. There seems to be something appealing to people imagining having access to an endless bank account. Maybe you've even had that conversation with yourself. Maybe you've dreamt about having unlimited resources and what will you do with it. And many of you, I'm sure, would indeed start thinking about the family members you could support and the people you could help and the good that you could do. But I want to dig a little deeper beyond the surface and the material ones. I want to begin to use that question to uncover the real needs of the human heart. Over the years I've been convinced that one of the deepest needs people carry is simply this: to be heard and to be loved. There are lonely people everywhere who long initially just for someone to listen to them. And then still deeper, lying behind that, I think there is a longing for unconditional love, to be known and still be loved, to be seen and still accepted. I think that's one of the greatest needs of the human soul. Now, imagine, just imagine that God Himself came to you and said, Ask for me anything you want and I will give it to you. Now your first reaction might be, Well, that's not how God works, and of course, you'd pretty much be right in that. But there is this moment in the Old Testament where God exactly does that for someone. God comes to a man and says, Ask me for whatever you want, and I'll give it to you. And the way that man responds teaches us something really important about what I believe we should desire in life, but also what God delights in giving us. And that story is found in 1 Kings chapter 3. Welcome to today's episode of the Bible Project Daily Podcast. But what we often miss is the context of what's going on here, the whole background, the details behind this basic request and why they are so meaningful. Because I believe that when we see the whole picture, the lesson becomes richer, deeper, and much more challenging. So let's begin with where the chapter begins with a description of Solomon's early reign. Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the city of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem. That's actually going to be detailed for us in the coming chapters over the next few days. People, however, were still sacrificing at the high places because a temple had not yet been built for the name of the Lord. Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the instructions given him by his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places. The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during a dream in the night and said, Ask for whatever you want me to give you. And Solomon answered, You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him, and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day. He's of course here referring to himself. Now, Lord, he continues, My God, you have made your servant king in the place of my father David, but I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people, you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people, to try and distinguish between right and wrong, for who is able to govern this great people of yours? The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this, so God said to him, Since you have asked for this, and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have you asked for the death of your enemies, but for the discernment in administering judgment, I will do what you have asked, and I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been any one like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for, both wealth and honour, so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life also. Okay. That's the opening part. This is all about the offer God's made and Solomon's early choices, and verse one tells us, initially introduces us to the fact that Solomon has just made a treaty with Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and married Pharaoh's daughter. Now this is remarkable. For centuries, Egypt and Israel had been enemies. Clearly, at the beginning, Egypt was by far the dominant force, but under Solomon, the relationship has reached its high point, and in the ancient world, one of the ways nations sealed peace was through marriage alliances. So when Pharaoh gives his daughter to Solomon, that tells us something really significant. It's pointing to the fact that Israel was now stronger than Egypt. By the fact that it is the daughter of Egypt that has been given to Solomon's son. Egyptian kings did not give their daughters to foreign rulers, not even Babylon, but we see here they're giving one to Solomon. So politically, this is very, very significant, but of course, spiritually, it's dangerous. Well, we know Solomon was a polygamist and not just a casual one. We will eventually see that he married seven hundred wives and kept three hundred concubines. Now this is a direct violation of God's law, as laid out to Moses in Deuteronomy 17, where God warned Israel's kings and told them not to have multiple wives, not even to build up great retinues of houses or gold, because these things would have the danger of pulling their hearts away from the Lord. And of course, that's exactly what will happen to Solomon in the longer term. And this marriage to Pharaoh's daughter was probably the first step down that path, a path that would eventually lead him away from God. Now, let me just pause here and make a quick pastoral point. Scripture is clear on some issues, and one thing when it comes to marriage, the only thing is that believers should marry believers. Paul says that in 1 Corinthians, chapter 7, verse 39, where he talks about a widow who is free to marry, and he says, She now may marry whom she wishes with the caveat, but only in the Lord. What that means is whether you're single, never married, or widowed, and if you're listening to this, you friends have the freedom to marry anyone you want. The only non-negotiable is that they must know the Lord. Solomon ignored that principle and it cost him dearly. But there is also this issue about worship taking place on high places. Now normally worship on high places was forbidden. That was because the Canaanites worshipped their gods and hilltops, believing that the higher up they were, the closer they were to the heavens. Instead, Israel was commanded to worship only at the tabernacle and later the temple, which were being built at this time. But at this point in history, the tabernacle had been moving around. There was no permanent temple yet, so the people, it seems, did worship on the high places, not perhaps out of out and out idolatry, but out of necessity. But then verse 3 gives us a fascinating statement. Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to instructions given by his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burnt offerings in the high places. So it seems that in this stage of his life, Solomon genuinely loved the Lord. He was walking in obedience, and he overall followed the example of David. But in this one area, just one, he wasn't following David's pattern. David never worshipped in the high places, but Solomon did. But it does point out that Solomon was, although he was worshiping him in the high places, it was not idolatry that was taking place. It was not out and out rebellion as such, but it was definitely a compromise, one of those little things that doesn't look that dangerous. He was worshiping the Lord after all, but the potential for something to grow out of that was possible if it was left unchecked. Now, as several commentators I read pointed out, Solomon at this stage is definitely declared here to be walking in the godly footsteps of his father David. He loved the Lord, he obeyed the Lord, he was following the Lord, so the only exception here is this practice of worshiping on high places, which it seems we're being told here that God tolerated this for a time, probably because the temple had not been built yet. They weren't worshipping false gods up there, it's important to notice that. They were worshiping the Lord, but they were worshiping him in the wrong way. Now there's a whole message in itself, isn't it? Worshiping the right God in the wrong way? Well, I'll leave that for another day. But something extraordinary happens next. Solomon goes to Gibeon and offers a thousand burnt offerings on the offer on the altar there. Think about it, a thousand burnt offerings. This is extravagant worship. You might even say this is costly devotion. This is Solomon really saying, Lord, I want to honour you. And then it tells us that the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, Ask what I shall give you, and I shall give it to you. So this is breathtaking what's coming up. God responds to Solomon's offering with an offer of his own. Ask me anything, he says, anything at all, and I'll give it to you. Imagine God saying that to you for a moment. What would you ask for? Some of you probably already have a list forming in your minds. I bet some of you out there have five or six things on already. Maybe some of us could do with a little help with the mortgage. Others might say, Give me peace, give me rest, or give me health or healing. Some of you might even be saying, Lord, give me someone to love. But Solomon's answer is really remarkable here because he doesn't ask for any of those things. What he asks for? Well, first of all, his initial response before he asks for anything is just to express his gratitude. He recognises God's kindness through his father David and God's faithfulness to the covenant promise made to him. And then he adds this little interesting statement, but me, I'm only a child. You do not know how to carry out my duties. Now Solomon is about twenty years old at this point. We need to say that. He's not in fact a child in age. He may, of course, feel like one in experience. So what this is signalling is he's saying, Lord, I feel inadequate, inexperienced, maybe even overwhelmed at times. I don't know how to do this important role you've given me. And in verse 8 he also notices calls himself your servant. So there's two things being signalled here. He's saying, I feel like a child, meaning an experience, but I am a servant, meaning he's dependent on serving the Lord. So there's a real position of humility here, and also a healthy degree of self awareness. This is a young king who knows he cannot lead without God. And now comes the request. Therefore, he says, give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. So he doesn't ask for wealth, he doesn't ask for power, he doesn't ask for even victory over his enemies, he simply asks for a discerning heart. Now the dis the discerning part of this phrase means he needs to be able to hear, to listen, and to obey. He's asking for a heart that hears God, a heart that is open and teachable by God, and a heart thereby that can discern right from wrong. He asks for the ability, the wisdom to perceive, to understand, and then to apply God's word wisely. And notice he uses the word heart here. Now in Scripture, the heart is much more than our modern idea of just being the seat of our emotions. At that time the heart included the mind, the will, the whole inner life. As a man thinks in his heart, so he is, the scriptures tell us elsewhere. So Solomon here is in fact saying, Lord, give me a mind that listens to you, give me a will that follows you, give me a heart that understands your word and the ability to live it out, and give me the discernment to lead your people well. This is a stunning request. It is humble, it is selfless, and it is totally God-centered. And God's response is to give Solomon that and even more than he asked for. God loved this request. He delights in hearts that want to hear him. And then we see God say, Since you have asked for this, and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor ask for the death of your enemies, but for simply discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked for. I will give you that wise and discerning heart. There it is, God grants wisdom. Solomon asked for the ability to hear God and discern rightly, and God gave him the wisdom to do exactly that, adding that it would be at a level beyond any king before or after. But then notice at the close of this portion, God just doesn't stop there. In verse thirteen he says, I will also give you what you have not asked for, riches and honor, and then in verse 14, and if you walk in my ways, I will lengthen your days. So Solomon asked for that most important thing, and God gave him that, that of wisdom, but then added everything else on top as a bonus. This is the same principle Jesus will later expect when he says, Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. You see, Solomon here is seeking that right thing, and God chooses to honor it. Then in verse 15 it tells us that Solomon awoke and he realized that he'd had a dream. And then he returned to Jerusalem, stood before the Ark of the Lord's covenant, and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then he gave a feast at court. Now don't miss this. Notice the shift here. He began the chapter worshiping on those high places, didn't he? But he ends this section, this passage, worshiping before the ark, the proper place for the worship of God. And it says he brings burnt offerings there, symboling dedication, he makes peace offerings there, symbolizing fellowship and gratitude, and he holds a feast there, allowing all the people to celebrate God's goodness. So God's gift has in fact drawn him closer to himself. And that, of course, is always the mark of true wisdom. But if we continue into the second half of the chapter, we now see straight away that newfound wisdom is tested. Reading verses 16 to 28. Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. One of them said, Pardon me, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was there with me. The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone and there was no one else in the house but the two of us. During the night this woman's son died because she lay on him. So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from her side, while I, your servant, was asleep, and she put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast. The next morning I got up to nurse my son, and he was dead. But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn't the son I had borne. The other woman said, No, the living one is my son, and the dead one is yours. But the first one insisted, No, the dead one is yours, the living one is mine, and so they argued before the king. The king then said, This one says my son is alive, and your son is dead, and this while that one says no, your son is dead and mine is alive. Then the king said, Bring me a sword. So they brought a sword for the king, and he gave an order Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other. The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved out of love for her son and said to the king, Please, my lord, give her the living baby, don't kill him. But the other said, Neither I nor she shall have him. Cut him in two. Then the king gave his ruling Give the living baby to the first woman, do not kill him, for she is his mother. When all Israel heard the verdict the king have given the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice. Okay, very famous passage, and it seems almost immediately God gives him a sort of test case, so to speak. Now this scene is one of the most famous scenes in the Old Testament, and the opening verse, verse 16, begins by telling us two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. Now that detailed matters. I think many times I've heard it taught as just two women, but they're identified as women who are at the very bottom of society, and that's important. Don't miss it. These women had no status, no influence, certainly no advocates for them, and yet Solomon chooses to give them his full attention. This itself is wisdom in action because it shows him allowing a system where justice is available for even the lowest in society, not just available for the powerful. And what we have here is two women, one baby, no witnesses, no evidence, no DNA tests in those days, no C C TV footage, just a king, and a personal crisis playing out before him. What would you do? Well, don't miss the fact also that some Solomon's first step is to simply listen carefully, and then he simply repeats their claims back to them. That's actually really, really profoundly important. One of the most powerful tools in communication, and if you train in counseling, is simply to do just that. Repeat back what someone has said to you. It does multiple things. It shows that you've listened, it shows that you've understood by repeating it back. They can confirm that's what they said. So it clarifies the issue, but it also slows that moment down. So Solomon is not stalling here. Let's be clear. He's listening, he's clarifying, he's doing that very thing of discerning. That's wisdom. And perhaps, just perhaps, some might suggest, I've heard it taught that he was praying. That seems reasonable to me. Lord, you promised me wisdom, and I need it right now, he's probably saying. Then Solomon says something really shocking, isn't it? Bring me a sword. They bring it to him and they said, Divide the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other. Now Solomon never intended to harm the child. That much you need to understand. He's using this situation to draw out the truth, and it works instantly. The mother cries out, now let me just add, Bible experts who know the language here, the original language, say there is real urgency in the language here that doesn't actually come across that much in our English translations. What's been described here is a real gut reaction. Oh my Lord, give her the child, do not kill him. But the other woman says, Well, he shall be neither mine nor yours. And there it is. That's the truth revealed in that split second. The true posture of the heart is exposed. Not just of the real mother, but of both women. The biological mother reacts instinctively with compassion, a deep, burning, instinctive compassion. And by seeing that and allowing that to come to the surface, it shows that Solomon understood something fundamental about human nature. A true mother would rather lose her child than see him harmed. That's the discernment here. That's the wisdom, that's the ability to understand life in all its fullness. So Solomon immediately declares, Give the living child to the first woman, she is the mother. The case is closed, and then verse 28, the last verse of the chapter concludes by telling us, When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe. They rightly stood in awe of this. They respected him and they recognized God's hand upon him. And then the final phrase of the final verse they saw, he had wisdom from God, the wisdom to administer justice. And that's the whole point here. Solomon, remember, didn't ask for wisdom to make himself look good, he asked for wisdom to help serve God's people, and it was because of that God honored that request. This story is not about cleverness for cleverness's sake. It's about compassion, it's about discernment, it's about understanding human nature, and it's about applying God's truth to real life. It's about a king who wanted to lead well. Now, before we close this chapter, let me take you back to what this can mean for us personally. Because what we've seen in Solomon is not abstract theology going on here. It's not just an Old Testament story, it's an insight into the kind of heart that God wants to honour and the kind of prayers God delights to answer. When Solomon asked for under for an understanding heart, he he asked for discernment and wisdom. He wasn't asking for something to make his life easier. He wasn't asking for something to make him look impressive. He wasn't asking for something that we would enable him to elevate himself above others. He was asking for something that would help him to be able to serve and serve better. And that's the key. That's the core meaning of this whole passage. Solomon ultimately wanted to honor God, he wanted to shepherd God's people well, and he wanted insight into God's word and discernment and understanding of human life. So he wanted the wisdom to carry out God's calling, the calling that God had placed on him. And of course, God said yes to all of that, which tells us that true wisdom is never a selfish thing. It's about service. Now, when I first learned this story as a young Christian, I thought Solomon simply asked for wisdom and God gave it to him. And of course, on the top basic level, that's absolutely true. But if you just leave it there, then the story is incomplete. Wisdom itself can be nothing more than a self-improvement project. But in the context in which we see wisdom granted here, Solomon's request is positioned as being entirely unselfish. He's asking for wisdom so he can express justice. He's asking for discernment in order to help others, and he's asking for understanding in order that he will know how to serve faithfully. And God, of course, honors that. So what does that mean for you and I, friends? Let's try and bring us home to right where we are today. Scripture in Philippians 4, verse 6 in the New Testament tells us to let your requests be made known to God. You can ask for God, you can ask God for anything. There's no restriction to asking, there's no limit to bringing your needs to Him. But there is one request that God specifically commands every believer to make, and that is if you lack wisdom in anything, then let that person ask it of God. James chapter 1. And in the context of that verse, it is wisdom in understanding how to overcome trials. Those moments in life when life is confusing, painful, overwhelming, even. When you do not know what God is doing in a situation, when you don't know what to do next, when you're trying to understand what the Lord might be teaching you in all this, in those moments, God says, no, God commands us to ask Him for wisdom. Not for knowledge, not for information, not even for relief. Just wisdom, discernment, understanding, the ability to see life from God's perspective, the ability to apply his word in real situations, and the ability to discern what is right and what is kind and what is good and what is wise. And then the following verse in that passage in James just says, once you've got that, don't just hear the word, do it. Learn first, gain that wisdom, then live by it. Don't live and learn, learn and then live. And if you don't know what to do, then ask someone who does. There's plenty of wisdom out there in our Christian communities. Seek counsel from spiritually mature believers, people who know the word and understand what life's all about. Now let me share something else with you about this. This passage spoke really deeply to me when I heard it taught on in this way many years ago. Because when it was taught to me, probably more than 40 years ago, it was taught to me along with the verse, alongside the verse where the words Jesus spoke in Matthew 22, verse demon, verse 29, when he said, You are mistaken because you do not know the scriptures nor the power of God. And at that point I prayed, Lord, I want to know your word and I want to know your power. But it wasn't just about academically, but actually to know it, to experience it, and to see it in the lives of people. I wanted to see God's word change hearts, and I wanted to see God's truth bring people to Christ and those people who were brought to Christ to help them gain Christian spiritual maturity. And that became the passion of my soul and has been so for more years than I can count. But I actually believe that that should ultimately be the core heart cry of every Christian believer. Lord, give me insight into your word, because everything else flows out of that. Lord, give me discernment into understanding people and give me the wisdom to serve well. But of all of this we do and we request in the same way we should as Solomon did, not for ourselves, not for our reputation, but simply for the sakes of others. And what Solomon asked for, that's what God honored. And I believe that is what God will honor in your life if you ask it for him also. So why not do that and do it today? Thanks for being with me. That brings us to the end of what I really think is a quite remarkable chapter. A chapter where this young King Solomon asked for the right thing for the right reason, and discovered that God delights to give wisdom to those who seek it when the desire to have it is for it to be expressed for the sake of others. But Solomon's story doesn't stop there. In fact, the next chapter will show us what that wisdom looks like when lived out. Not just requested, but now embodied. In 1 Kings chapters 4 and 5, we'll see Solomon's wisdom shape a nation, organise a kingdom, build relationships, prepare that society, one of the greatest projects, not just in biblical history, but in history completely. So I'd love for you to stay with me and join me next time as we explore the essence of true wisdom lived out. Not just by what Solomon asked for, but by how he used it and what he built out of it, and how that blessed others and what it teaches about living wisely even today. So until then, may God give you an understanding heart and discernment for the decisions that you have to make and wisdom to walk in his ways and serve others. If you want to keep up to date with everything I'm doing across all my podcasts and Bible studies, I put a weekly newsletter out on Substack. There's a link by which you can subscribe and receive that newsletter straight into your email box every week. And if you want to have access to the full catalogue of over a thousand hours of teaching now, and do the whole project of working through the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, you can do that and do it for free by signing up and following me on Patreon. Everything is being posted there and put into handy, easily accessible playlists based on books and books of the Bible and themes. But we leave it there and I'll be back tomorrow, Lord willing. Thanks for being with me. Bye bye for now.