Great Prayers of the Old Testament
Part 8: Crucial Lessons from King Solomon's Life
1 Kings 3:1-9, 1 Kings 11:1-13;
Ecclesiastes 12:1, 9-11, 13-14; 1 John 4:19
Sermon by Rick Crandall
(Prepared November 18, 2024)
BACKGROUND:
*Please open your Bibles to 1 Kings 3, as we begin to study one of the most important prayers we can ever pray. Shortly after he became king, David's son Solomon prayed to the LORD for wisdom, and he teaches us to pray for wisdom. But in order to understand King Solomon's prayer, first we need to know more about his life.
*Romans 8:28 tells us that "all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." This Scripture is always true. It was even true after the dark sin that preceded the marriage of David and Bathsheba. One consequence of their sin was the death of their firstborn son after only 7 days. But 2 Samuel 12:24 says, "Then David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in to her and lay with her. So she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. And the LORD loved him." (Thank God, He loves us too! As John 3:16 says, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.")
*The LORD loved Solomon, but Solomon wasn't David's only son. And Bathsheba wasn't David's only wife. He had many wives. We don't know how many, because only eight of them are named in the Bible -- "only eight". David had many children from his wives, including 19 sons named in the Bible. He also had more sons from his concubines.
*There was bound to be a fierce competition for who would follow King David. In 1 Kings 1, David was very near death, and the son of another wife decided that he would be king. His name was Adonijah, and he was able to talk key leaders into supporting him, leaders like Joab the general and Abiathar the priest.
*It looked like Adonijah had a good chance of pulling it off. But Solomon's mother and Nathan the prophet got to King David just in time, and David made sure that Solomon was crowned king. That happened mainly because the LORD also wanted Solomon to be the new king. Then in 1 Kings 2 David died after giving Solomon some godly advice and practical directions. But the new king needed more wisdom, and he prayed for it here in 1 Kings 3. Please think about these things as we read 1 Kings 3:1-9.
MESSAGE:
*In today's Scripture, King Solomon shows us some of the most important prayer lessons we can ever learn.
1. THE FIRST LESSON IS: WE MUST BEWARE OF BACKSLIDING.
*God's Word points us to this truth in vs. 1 where "Solomon made a treaty with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and married Pharaoh's daughter; then he brought her to the City of David until he had finished building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall all around Jerusalem."
*Church: There is no doubt that King Solomon was saved by God's grace through faith in the promise of the future Messiah. In Proverbs 3:5-6, Solomon urged us to "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." There should be no doubt that Solomon trusted in the LORD.
*There is also no doubt that Solomon was one of the wisest men who ever lived. And vs. 3 here tells us that "Solomon loved the LORD." But God's Word never sugarcoats the flaws of His followers. And Solomon's biggest flaw was his marriage to foreign wives. William MacDonald explained that: "Solomon married the daughter of the Pharaoh who was then in power in Egypt." J. Vernon McGee explained that Solomon's marriage formed an alliance with Egypt.
*Now, this marriage may not have been a giant step away from the LORD, because this bride may have converted to Judaism. But this first step backwards shows us that Solomon was at least partially trusting in political alliances, rather than fully trusting in the LORD. And this way, Solomon linked himself with many foreign powers, but he alienated himself from the LORD." So, this marriage to the Egyptian was the first of many steps away from the LORD. And these marriages to idol worshiping wives may have been politically expedient, but they were spiritual disasters, forbidden by God's law.
*From this point on, Solomon's harem grew until it contained hundreds of foreign women. J. Vernon McGee noted that Solomon prayed for wisdom after he married Pharaoh's daughter. -- And we could only wish that he had prayed before the marriage. (1)
*Solomon's sin had tragic consequences for the nation, and we read about them in 1 Kings 11:1-13. Here God's Word says:
1. But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites
2. from the nations of whom the LORD had said to the children of Israel, "You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. For surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.'' Solomon clung to these in love.
3. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart.
4. For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David.
5. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
6. Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not fully follow the LORD, as did his father David.
7. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon.
8. And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
9. So the LORD became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the LORD God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice,
10. and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the LORD had commanded.
11. Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, "Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.
12. Nevertheless I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.
13. However I will not tear away the whole kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.''
*If this Scripture was our only evidence, we might wonder if Solomon was even saved. But remember that the LORD inspired Solomon to write three of the books in the Old Testament. By God's Holy Spirit, Solomon was inspired to write Proverbs, which is full of wisdom, the Song of Solomon, which is full of love, and the Book of Ecclesiastes which is full of the vanities of life.
*Ecclesiastes was written very late in Solomon's life, and it's important to know how Solomon ended this book. Here are some of the very wise words from Ecclesiastes 12:
*Verse 1: Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come, and the years draw near when you say, "I have no pleasure in them.'
*Verses 9-11: "And moreover, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yes, he pondered and sought out and set in order many proverbs. The Preacher sought to find acceptable words; and what was written was upright words of truth. The words of the wise are like goads, and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails, given by one Shepherd."
*And verses 13-14: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it is good or whether it is evil."
*Church: If one of the wisest believers who ever lived was in danger of backsliding, then surely we are too. Remember these wise words from the great prayer warrior George Mueller:
"It is a common temptation of Satan to make us give up the reading of the Word and prayer when our enjoyment is gone; as if it were of no use to read the Scriptures when we do not enjoy them, and as if it were no use to pray when we have no spirit of prayer.
The truth is that, in order to enjoy the Word, we ought to continue to read it, and the way to obtain a spirit of prayer is to continue praying. The less we read the Word of God, the less we desire to read it, and the less we pray, the less we desire to pray." (2)
2. WHEN IT COMES TO OUR PRAYER LIFE, WE MUST BEWARE OF BACKSLIDING. WE ALSO MUST LOVE THE LORD.
*Verse 3 in today's Scripture tells us that "Solomon loved the LORD." But back in 2 Samuel 12:24, God's Word shows us that the LORD loved Solomon first. This has always been the case. The Lord always takes the first step of love in our everlasting relationship. That's why 1 John 4:19 tells Christians, "We love Him because He first loved us." By His grace, God reached out to reveal Himself to Solomon. And the same is true for us.
*In Luke 15, Jesus told the parable of the shepherd who went out into the wilderness to find his lost sheep, and searched until he found it. Then in Luke 19:10, Jesus tells us that He came "to seek and to save that which was lost." And in John 6:44 Jesus said, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day."
*This is also why in Ephesians 1:2-7, Paul wrote this to all Christians:
2. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
4. just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
5. having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
6. to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.
7. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace
*God always takes the first step to save someone. Robert Sumner told how God used a missionary in Alaska to reach out to people halfway around the world. Everett Bachelder and his wife Mina operated the Nome Gospel Home for over 30 years.
*One of the ways they shared the Gospel was by tossing more than a thousand mayonnaise jars and ketchup bottles into the Bering Sea. These bottles were all crammed with Scripture messages written in 100 languages. Kids from local churches helped Everett prepare the jars and bottles. Now that may seem like a waste of time, but over the years, the wind and waves carried the story of God's love to the far corners of the earth. Everett got responses from as far as 10,000 miles away.
*One time a man in Singapore was broken-hearted over a romance gone sour. He was about to commit suicide by jumping into the ocean from a cliff, but he saw a bottle wash up against the rocks below. The man decided to jump when the bottle broke. But as he watched, it hit the rocks over and over without breaking. He got curious, climbed down the cliff and found the message of God's Good News! God's Word touched his heart, so he found a missionary in Singapore and got saved! -- But God took the first step. And Christians: Somehow, some way, God took the first step for you! (3)
3. WHEN IT COMES TO OUR PRAYER LIFE, WE MUST LOVE THE LORD. WE ALSO MUST PUT A PRIORITY ON WORSHIP.
*Verses 2-4 tell us that:
2. . . The people sacrificed at the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the LORD until those days.
3. And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.
4. Now the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place: Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.
*Remember that this was early in Solomon's reign, before he began to worship idols. 2 Chronicles 1:3 tells us that "Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for the tabernacle of meeting with God was there, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness." Also, the Temple had not yet been built in Jerusalem, so the high place at Gibeon was a proper place to worship the LORD. (4)
*But notice Solomon's devotion to worship the LORD. The new king offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar! Then about ten years later, in 1 Kings 8:63, the ark containing the Ten Commandments was brought into the new Temple. And at that dedication, Solomon offered a sacrifice to the LORD of 120,000 sheep! King Solomon was passionate about worshiping the LORD. (5)
*Untold millions of lambs were sacrificed in Old Testament times. Over and over, countless times, God was reminding His people that the wages of sin is death. And every one of those lambs was pointing to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, the only lamb who could ever take away the sins of the world. Jesus had to take the punishment for our sins by dying on the cross for us. So, when Jesus began His ministry, John 1: 29 tells that "The next day John (the Baptist) saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, 'Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!'" That is the only way we could receive the mercy of God.
*Everyone but Jesus Christ is a sinner who needed a Savior. And we know this, because Romans 3:23 tells us that all of us "have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." So, how righteous are you? Richard Wilson made a great point when he said, "Some folks think they are really good people. But let's suppose that a person only sins 3 times a day: A sin in the morning, a sin during the day and a sin at night. That sounds like a pretty good person to me. But if that person lives to be 70 years old, they will commit 76,650 sins in their lifetime. And that doesn't count leap years!" (6)
*Church: That also doesn't count all the good things we should have been doing when we were wasting our time on sin. The truth is that all of us have sinned a whole lot more than we think. And some of us have sinned more than others, but all of us have sinned, so all of us need Jesus!
*Alan Perkins explained that this is "because God is completely holy, and His standard is perfect righteousness. It doesn't matter if you're a little better than someone else, or even a lot better than someone else. You're still guilty of sin. You're still condemned. The person who jumps halfway across the Grand Canyon winds up just as dead as the person who only jumps 8 feet out from the cliff. They both fall a mile to the bottom. That's why we must depend on Christ's perfect righteousness to make us right with God. Our goodness will never be enough. We can't make it to heaven by even the most outstanding attempts at good behavior." (7)
*Thank God that Jesus died on the cross to take the punishment for our sins. Then three days later Jesus rose again from the dead! Now our Risen Lord is able to give His eternal life to everyone who will receive Him as their Lord and Savior.
*Christians: Aren't you glad that by God's grace we got to live on the resurrection side of the cross! We don't have to go to the Tabernacle at Gibeon to worship the Lord! We don't have to go to the Temple in Jerusalem. Now we can worship God anywhere any time day or night. And it's all because of the cross of our risen Savior Jesus Christ.
*By the Holy Spirit of God, God the Father, and His only begotten Son Jesus Christ are always with us. And it is always a good thing for us to worship the Lord. Worship puts our focus on God. Worship elevates our thinking, and in worship we draw closer to God. That is crucial, because James 4:8 tells us that when we draw near to God, He draws near to us.
*Solomon was passionate about worshiping the LORD! And his prayer for wisdom followed this time of devoted worship. Please listen to his prayer again in vs. 5-9:
5. At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, "Ask! What shall I give you?''
6. And Solomon said: "You have shown great mercy to your servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; You have continued this great kindness for him, and You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.
7. Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am 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 numerous to be numbered or counted.
9. Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?''
CONCLUSION:
*Solomon's worship surely helped prepare his heart to make the right request from the Lord. And next time we will take a closer look at Solomon's prayer.
*But Christians: The challenge for us today is that we must beware of backsliding. We must love the Lord. And we must put a higher priority on worshiping the Lord. Let's pray about it right now, trusting that God always answers the godly prayers of His people in a perfect way.
*And if you have never received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, please call on the Lord to save you today. This is the most important thing we can ever do in life. Jesus knows everything about our lives, both the good and the bad. But Jesus still loves us anyway! He is the only way to God's forgiveness and eternal life in Heaven, so please put your trust in our crucified and risen Savior. You can do that right now as we go back to God in prayer.
(1) Sources:
-BELIEVER'S BIBLE COMMENTARY by William MacDonald - Edited by Arthur Farstad - Thomas Nelson Publishers - Nashville - Copyright 1995 - "The Wisdom of Solomon" - 1 Kings 3:1-28 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021
-Adapted from THROUGH THE BIBLE WITH J. VERNON MCGEE by J. Vernon McGee - Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville - Copyright 1981 - "The Wisdom of Solomon" - 1 Kings 3:1-28 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021
(2) George Muller (Mueller), "A Narrative of Some of the Lord's Dealings with George Muller." Christianity Today, Vol. 32, no. 5. - Source: Cross & Crown sermon "Model Prayer 1 - Spirit" by James McCullen - Matthew 6:9-13
(3) KERUX ILLUSTRATION COLLECTION - ID Number: 1182 - SOURCE: Biblical Evangelist - TITLE: Throwing the Word of God into the Ocean - AUTHOR: Dr. Robert Sumner - DATE: 8/10/01
(4) GotQuestions.org - "Why did Solomon worship at a high place" - https://www.gotquestions.org/Solomon-high-place.html
(5) THE OPEN BIBLE - "The Old Time Gospel Hour Edition" - Copyright 1975 by Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville TN
(6) Adapted from SermonCentral illustration contributed by Richard Wilson
(7) Adapted from SermonCentral sermon "The Tax Collector and the Pharisee" by Alan Perkins - Luke 18:9-14
