Time with Abba, Singing Praising 親親爸父，唱詩歌頌 : OT DAY 479 - The Irony of Solomon's Asking for Wisdom (Please click here for English podcast)

Friday, May 13, 2016

OT DAY 479 - The Irony of Solomon's Asking for Wisdom (Please click here for English podcast)

Silence

1. Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence

2. Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace and feel His presence. Exhale your worries.

Praise and Thanksgiving

1. Think through your day, all the times that made you smile

2. Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people

3. Open your heart to praise the Lord

Great salvation he brings to his king,
and shows steadfast love to his anointed,
to David and his offspring forever.

Psalm 18:50

Confession and Repentance (Subjective Shifting Devotion Method http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html)

1. Pray for the Holy Spirit to work in you:

“Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

2. Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:

"Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sin to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gift to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."

The Word (1 Kings 3:1-9)

English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=列+王+紀+上+3&version=ESV

Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem.2 The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord.

3 Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places. 4 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great 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 shall give you.” 6 And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, 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 this day. 7 And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. 9 Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?”

1 Kings 3:1-9

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmax47l2hLU

My Listening

Everyone knows Solomon asked for wisdom and God delighted with him. What we do not aware is that it is a kind of irony! How so?

Let's see how Professor John Goldingay tells us:

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Goldingay) :

Someone gets asked the question "What would you like me to do for you?" and provides a model answer in the sense that it is the right answer given the situation he is in…
Yet the account of God's appearing to Solomon and Solomon's making this request comes in a context that attaches some irony to it. The very first thing we are told about Solomon once he is secure on his throne is that he made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt…
Solomon's words thus clarify what he and God mean by wisdom. The key to wisdom or discernment lies in having a listening mind, in submitting one's thinking to God's way of thinking.

John Goldingay. 1 and 2 Kings for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011, p.15,17.

The irony is Solomon did not listen to God's command not to have anything to do with Egypt and he even made a marriage alliance with Egypt. On the other hand, he asked to be able to submit his thinking to God's way of thinking. What is on his mind really? Is he too clever thinking that he can even control God?

Are you willing to submit your thinking to God's way of thinking and that you can receive a discerning heart, like what Solomon asked?

Dear Lord Jesus,

I am willing to submit my thinking to Your way of thinking, please give me a discerning heart. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen.