Use or Refuse: 1 Kings 3:4-15 - All Saints Sunday

You’ve probably seen the classic Disney animated movie Aladdin. 

A kind-hearted street thief discovers a magic lamp and befriends the Genie inside. The Genie offers to grant Aladdin three wishes. Aladdin’s greatest wish is to become a prince so he can marry the enchanting Princess Jasmine. 

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Today’s Old Testament reading bears some similarities. God appears in a dream to the newly crowned King Solomon and says, “Ask what I should give you.”

This almost feels like a test, precisely because God is not a genie granting wishes. Still, if this is a test, Solomon passes with flying colors. He says, “Give your servant…an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil.”

God is greatly pleased that Solomon asks for wisdom and not for riches. God not only grants Solomon his request, but gives him riches as well, but with one important caveat: “If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.”

Solomon quickly puts his new spiritual gift to work and quickly becomes famous worldwide for his wisdom. He organizes his government into twelve administrative districts. He used the riches God gave him to build up his military with fortresses, chariots and ships. He formed trading partnerships with neighboring kingdoms which boosted the economy and brought peace to the kingdom. Most notably, he built the Temple in Jerusalem, a grand palace for himself, and composed hundreds of songs and proverbs. 

Unfortunately, the record of his reign is rather mixed.

His building projects were so expensive that he levied heavy taxes on his subjects and enslaved foreigners to do much of the work. He married a thousand wives and worshiped their gods, going so far as to even build shrines and monuments for them. Clearly, he failed to exercise the wisdom God gave him and use the riches God entrusted for the building up of God’s people. After his death, Israel fractures into two separate and weaker kingdoms. One could argue that Solomon was the Bible’s wisest idiot, for the ways his lust and ambition got the best of him. What’s the point of wisdom or any spiritual gift if you don’t use it?

This takes us back to the beginning, when God says, “Ask what I should give you.”

Solomon asked God to give him what he needed to do what God put him on the throne to do: he needed wisdom to govern God’s people and to discern good and evil. This, in and of itself, is an exercise of wisdom, as well as humility and faith. God was happy to give him more. 

God is eager to answer the prayers of those who earnestly seek his kingdom and its righteousness. Trouble is, God is more eager to give than we are to use what we already have. Consider that for a moment… We ask God to provide we lack what and we need. But we hold back what we already have: Because we have our own plans and purposes, as Solomon does. Because we rely more on the gifts than their giver. Because we want the gifts more than the giver.

With the church budget season upon us, we depend on God to provide the funding and the resources to keep the church going—but why? Because we love worshiping God in a familiar place with familiar songs and familiar liturgy among people we love and trust? Or because we want to be faithful and obedient?

God gifts are never for your enjoyment alone. God put us here to proclaim Christ in word and deed, to make disciples through baptism. God put us here to feed the hungry, befriend the lonely, and care for the sick, to work for justice and peace, to worship in spirit and truth. 

I truly believe that what we lack isn’t money or resources or people. Scarcity is no match for divine providence. What we lack is the will to put our treasures where our trust is. What we lack is the faith that God’s power is made perfect in weakness. The courage to take risks and learn from failures. The maturity that comes only through fiery trials and discipline. A heart to live for something greater than ourselves. A soul that seeks God above all else.

God is eager to bless, even more than we are to receive. So, what will you ask of him? 

Start by remembering the saints we celebrate today. We don't remember them for sailing effortlessly through life, with everything they touched turning into gold. We remember them for keeping the faith in the face of fear, for persevering in hope in the face of suffering, for loving and serving others when it didn't benefit them at all. After all, a meaningful life has nothing to do with how much you achieve. A meaningful life is one that brings life to others; one that continues to bless even after death. 

What will you ask God to give you, so that you can be who God created you to be and do what God created you to do? What do you need to glorify God and enjoy him forever?

More importantly, what do you already have that will accomplish far more in God's hands than in your own? 

1 Kings 3:4-15 (NRSVue)

⁴ The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the principal high place; Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. ⁵ At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I should give you.” ⁶ And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you, and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. ⁷ And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. ⁸ And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. ⁹ Give your servant, therefore, an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil, for who can govern this great people of yours?”

¹⁰ It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. ¹¹ God said to him, “Because you have asked this and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or for the life of your enemies but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, ¹² I now do according to your word. Indeed, I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you, and no one like you shall arise after you. ¹³ I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you. ¹⁴ If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.”