The Prayer of Solomon

Sermon notes from Tuesday 23 October 2018

1 Kings 3 verses 5 - 15

Last Tuesday night we looked at Hannah and the prayer she offered.  It came out of affliction of her heart.  She was in pain and desperation and had a great burden.  She came into the house of the Lord and poured out her soul before the Lord.  Reading through this portion of scripture the same theme occurred.  An ordinary woman like Hannah, now see the king of Israel.  The God of Israel comes to one little figure of a woman as he does to the great king of Israel.  That woman pleading and praying before God then we see this great king.  Hannah prayed in the temple.  The king prayed in his bedroom.  Somehow wanted to catch the importance of prayer.  Imagine God coming down to where she was.  It was the Lord who brought Solomon to the kingship so it should be normal that God would bend his ear to hear his prayer but not for a simple woman like Hannah.  No matter who we are, where we are, that is the importance of prayer.  God comes to us where we are.  God comes to Solomon and says to him "ask what I shall give thee."  Solomon responded "Thou hast shown unto thy servant David my father great mercy."  Solomon begins to pray and God is listening.  In verse 10 God was asking him for what he wanted.  The Lord listened intently and it pleased him.  What he hears pleases him.  The hand that moulded and formed the very universe, that made man in his own image, that breathed into man and he became a living soul, he bends down and listens to our prayers.

It was a solitary prayer.  One woman praying made a tremendous different.  That woman`s prayers were answered.  God gave Hannah Samuel the prophet in Israel.  This one woman standing before God in the temple asking for God to answer her prayer, to lift the burden of her heart and give her a man child.  Solomon has just come to his throne.  In chapter 2 he was sorting things out in his kingdom, it was a busy time for him.  In chapter 3 we see him busy spiritually.  Now while he rested God came to him.  Jesus bade the disciples "come ye apart and rest awhile."  Sometimes we get busy in the Lord`s work.  The Lord whispers to us "it is time to come aside and rest for a while."  God said to Solomon "ask what I shall give thee" in the quietness of his bedroom.  God meets with Solomon.  Sometimes we think God is only interested when it comes to the great big things, the big numbers of people praying.  Here we notice with Hannah and Solomon one solitary prayer.  Solomon was praying in the middle of the night.  Never underestimate that God is listening and hearing our prayers.  Elijah the prophet was going through a deep depair and anxiety.  He deserts his post one day under threat of Jezebel.  She was going to take his life.  He flees out into the wilderness.  Perhaps no-one knows where he is.  He offered a solitary prayer.  1 Kings 19 verse 4 "it is enough now Lord take away my life for I am no better than my fathers."  God met with him there.  He sent his angel who put him down to sleep, wakened him and repeated the process until he was well rested.  Jonah went through a time of fear and even rebelllion.  God told him to go to Nineveh and tell the people to repent but he wouldn`t do it.  He fled from the presence of God and boarded a boat in the opposite direction.  It was only when Jonah was in the belly of the fish that he prayed unto the Lord and God heard him.  Sometimes as Christians we go through similar difficult times.  

It was a searching prayer.  God hears your prayer.  Maybe you will pray in the depths of your soul for something you could not pray audibly for.  Hannah prayed and only her lips moved.  The priest thought she was drunk but God knew her heart and the burden she carried.  Sometimes we have burdens we cannot tell another soul about.  It was a searching prayer.  God challenges this young inexperiencecd king.  He has watched his father before him but the responsibility is his now.  God comes to him "ask what I shall do for you."  Solomon had to search his own soul to see what he would ask.  He doesn`t rattle the first thing that comes to his mind.  He assesses the situation, sees the multitude of people he had to lead.  He feels the responsibility and the difficulty that comes with it.  Somehow he summarises the situation that faces him.  God hears it all.  Sometimes we have to search our soul for just what to pray for.  Hannah pointed to the child at her side and said "for this child I prayed."  She knew what she was going to pray for.  Solomon knows the qualificatiosn he needed for the task.  God equips us too.  Sometimes we think we could never do something, never hold down that responsibility.  A task might be too difficult for us.  With the task comes the equipment.  Sometimes we feel we do not have the talent or ability to do things but God asks us to.  Ask him for the help at that moment.  Paul said to Timothy "stir up the gift that is in you."  God had given him the gift.  Paul prayed for him and laid his hands on him but God gave him the gift ultimately.  Let us search our hearts for what God really wants us to ask for.

It was a simple prayer.  Verse 7 "I am but a little child, I know not how to go out or come in."  Verse 9 "give therefore thy servant an understanding heart."  He just says "give".  He asks the Lord to give it to him.  That prayer is an answer to God`s goodness.  God had brought him to the throne but he admits he doesn`t have the experience.  Let us reflect on the goodness of God tonight.  Imagine God ever saving us that he would send his son to die for our sins, that he would suffer in my place.  That is what God has done.  We come to pray in respect of that.  God knows what we need.  Leave ourselves as an open channel.

It was a satisfying prayer.  Verse 10 the speech pleased the Lord.  That Solomon had asked this thing.  God was pleased.  He is pleased to hear our voices.  James said "you have not because you ask not, you have not because you ask amiss."  In other words you ask for something wrongly, it is just for something to boost our own ego, to spend it on ourselves.  This prayer pleased the Lord because it was not for riches, wealth, fame or fortune but for the Lord of Israel.  

It was a successful prayer.  Verse 12 "behold I have done according to thy words."  More than that he gave an understanding heart and he gave blessings in other ways.  Verse 13 what a tremendous prayer this was.  The results were outstanding.  God is still the same as in the days of Hannah and Solomon.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever.  "Where 2 or 3 are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst."