We have been spending our evenings looking at various people of faith in the scriptures to give us encouragement and hope to continue to follow our Lord and Savior. We have looked at Joseph, Jacob, and David most recently. For our next series I would like us to look at the life of Solomon as told by the Chronicler. I have noted before that there are key differences in the purposes between the author of the book of Kings and the author of the book of Chronicles. One of those key differences is that the book of Kings is teaching how Israel fell. The sins of Israel and Judah and their kings are highlighted and revealed. However, the book of Chronicles is not exploring how Israel and Judah fell. Rather, the concern is how to be restored. It is unfortunate that the Chronicles accounts can be neglected when studying Israel’s history because we can miss the way back to God. We saw this principle when we looked at David earlier this year. The writer of Chronicles does not write about all the sins of David. Two sins are noted both of which are showing the necessity of proper worship as the means for God to live with his redeemed people. The life of Solomon has a similar lens. The Chronicler presumes that you know Solomon’s sin story and has no interest in addressing those points in his life again. In fact, the Chronicler does not speak about any of Solomon’s sins in his account. Rather, Solomon is pictured as the son of David, a foreshadowing and prototype of the Son of David, Jesus, who will be the means for God’s people to be restored. Please open your copies of God’s word to 2 Chronicles 1 and let’s consider how Solomon’s life begins according to the Chronicler.
Focus On Worship (2 Chronicles 1:1-6)
Solomon’s life story does not begin when he is a child. We are not told about what his life was like as David’s son. We are not told about how life was in the palace of Jerusalem. Solomon’s life story begins with Solomon as king. 2 Chronicles 1:1 summarizes Solomon’s life. Solomon firmly established himself as king over his kingdom. How did this happen? Keep reading verse 1. “The Lord his God was with him and made him exceedingly great.” This summary point is the key point and worthy of our consideration. God can establish and stabilize our lives. God is behind our accomplishments. Solomon was not supposed to look at his life and say, “Look at me!” Rather, Solomon was supposed to look at his life and say, “Look at God!” Solomon was made exceedingly great by God. Solomon established his kingdom because God was with him. Solomon’s life was in God’s hands and Solomon is depending on the Lord.
So what does Solomon do with his life? What does Solomon see as the priority of his life and the priority of his kingdom? Keep reading the first six verses of chapter 1. Verses 2-3 tells us that Solomon gathered all the leaders of Israel and all the people of Israel at Gibeon, because the tent of meeting (the wilderness tabernacle) was established there. We read in 1 Chronicles 13-15 that David had brought the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem. But the tabernacle of God was still at Gibeon and the worship altar was still at Gibeon in front of the tabernacle (2 Chronicles 1:5). So Solomon leads all Israel to this location to seek the Lord (1:5) and to offer extravagant worship (1:6). Solomon’s priority was worship. Solomon’s concern was to lead the people to seek the Lord and to worship him. The focus of the kingdom of the son of David is worship. The goal is to lead the people to seek the Lord.
Please do not think about worship as merely going to a church building for a few hours a week. Think of worship as a life that is seeking God’s will, doing God’s will, and praising God for his work in the world and in your life. The apostle Paul said it like this:
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (Romans 12:1 ESV)
The apostle Paul speaks of our whole lives being offered to God as our spiritual worship. God wants us to be worshipful. God wants us to live our lives before him as a constant act of spiritual worship. Our focus is to seek God’s will, do God’s will, and praise God for his work. This is what Solomon does and Solomon leads Israel in this worship effort.
Focus On Wisdom (2 Chronicles 1:7-13)
Now I want us to see what God does in verse 7. God comes to Solomon and tells him to ask what God should give him. I want us to see the character of God. God does not have to do this. God does not have to come to Solomon and make this offer. God does not have to come to us with this same offer. You know that God did make the same offer to us. Jesus proclaimed:
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (Matthew 7:7 ESV)
So God comes to Solomon and invites him to ask him what he wants to give him. I want us to pay attention to four points to Solomon’s response. First, Solomon praises God’s character in verse 8. Solomon praises the great and steadfast love of the Lord to his father and to himself. Second, Solomon asks for God to fulfill his promises in verse 9. Lord God, you have made great promises. You made promises about your people and about our future and about this kingdom. Let those promises be fulfilled. To say this another way, let your will be done. Do what you have said you will do. Third, Solomon asks God for wisdom and knowledge in verse 10. Solomon asks for the wisdom and knowledge to lead the people. To “go out and come in before this people” is an idiom for leading the people (cf. Numbers 27:17). Fourth, Solomon shows that his requests are not selfish or self-centered in verse 10. The reason he asks for wisdom and knowledge to lead the people is because these are God’s people who can govern your great people! Solomon is showing great humility in his request. You have given me an immeasurable task: to lead your people. Give me the wisdom and the knowledge to do it. Everything that Solomon says is ultimately God-centered. He praises God for God’s character. He asks God to fulfill his promises. He asks God for wisdom and knowledge because this would be the only way for Solomon to fulfill the task God had given to him.
Look at God’s response to Solomon’s response in verse 11. Solomon had all kinds of options to ask God for. You know we have the same offer and have myriads of options. There are so many things that we can pray to God about. There are so many things that we can ask God to do in our lives. There are so many things that we can ask God for. But Solomon does not ask for possessions, wealth, honor, destroying enemies, or a long life. God notes that Solomon did not pray for his own personal benefit but for qualities that would help him fulfill God’s purpose. Think about how Jesus, the Son of David, repeatedly exemplified this in his life. Jesus prayed that God’s will would be done, not his own, even though he was in great anguish while at Gethsemane just hours before his death. Jesus prayed for God’s glorification through him. The apostle Paul notes in Philippians 2 that Jesus did not consider equality with God a thing to be held on to and to be used to his own advantage.
God is overjoyed with prayers that are not self-centered prayers but are Godward focused prayers. Does this mean that we cannot pray for ourselves? Absolutely not. But what we are learning is that there is a way to pray for ourselves that is God-centered and not self-centered. Think about the prayers of the apostle Paul. When he prays for his condition and asks for other Christians in other churches to be praying for him, what is the reason Paul gives for the prayers? Why does he ask for prayers regarding his imprisonment? Does Paul want a long life, for the persecution to stop against him, and to be let out of prison because he has some bucket list vacations he wants to fulfill? No, Paul never says this. Paul desires these prayers because he sees that he has more work to do in the kingdom of God. There is a difference in praying for wisdom and knowledge so that we can make a lot of money and retire early and praying for wisdom and knowledge so that we can know the will of the Lord and be faithful to him. Yes, pray for yourself but do so with a God-centered lens. So God’s response to Solomon is that he will give him everything that Solomon did not ask for. God was going to so richly bless Solomon unlike any king before him. Why? Look back to the beginning of verse 11. “Because this was in your heart….” Your heart’s desire was for God, not for yourself.
Focus On God’s Fulfillment (2 Chronicles 1:14-17)
The rest of chapter 1 is to show that God can keep his promises and does keep his promises. God does exactly what he said he would do. God said that he would bless Solomon like no other king before him and no other king after him. The point is to show that God will keep his word. Focus on how God does exactly what he says he will do. God accomplishes his will and keeps his promises. What I want us to see is that we have a giving God. We have a God who wants to give. God is not a begrudging God. In Matthew 20:1-15 Jesus told a parable to spoke highly about God’s immense generosity and how we can grumble against that generosity. God is a giving and generous God who makes the same offer to us. Listen to what Jesus said for you know this promise well.
31 “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:31-34 ESV)
Solomon was first seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Solomon desired to worship God and called for the rest of Israel to worship the Lord and to seek the Lord with him. When offered anything, Solomon desired the kingdom of God first because he wanted to be faithful to the task given to him: leading God’s people. The offer is now given to you. If you will seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness first, God will take care of the rest. Jesus says that we have no need to be anxious because God will take care of the rest. Do not worry about your life (cf. Matthew 6:25). God will take care of you. Do not worry about tomorrow because God will take care of you. Do not seek after the things of this world because God will take care of you.
I will end this lesson by asking this question: how you are answering God’s invitation to ask? God has said to ask him anything. Are we even praying at all? Can you imagine not talking to God when our giving and generous God says to talk to him and ask him? Are we praying but does our heart reveal selfish prayers? We are not praying in a way that is God-centered but self-centered which robs us from receiving the blessings God wants to give us (cf. James 4:3-4). Consider what we ask from God the most and consider the reason behind our requests.
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21 NKJV)
God blessed Solomon far beyond what he asked for. God is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all we ask or think by God’s power that is at work in our lives. God can turn your life and accomplish his purposes through you if you ask him according to his will.