Date Written: May 1, 2006
Date Preached: May 3, 2006
Where Preached: OZHBC (Wed PM)
Sermon Details:
Sermon Series: Basic Bible Studies
Sermon Title: Making Wise Decisions
Sermon Text: 1 Kings 3:1-15
Introduction:
You have heard it said that the sum of our lives consist of the decisions or the choices we make. And that is a true statement… we are what we CHOOSE…
We can choose to live a life that is self-centered and focused on OUR every desire… or we can choose to live a life that seeks to serve God and do His will… or we can fall somewhere in between!
I have never been an advocate of what our liberal world has tried to force down our throat… things that go against what God’s Word teaches and shares with us… things such as alcoholism is a disease… to that I say balderdash!
Alcoholism is a very debilitating condition to be sure and when you are an alcoholic it DOES take over your life and hold you in bondage… but it is NOT a disease!
Our society today had become a society of victims… we are such a weak-kneed and spineless society! For everything wrong in society we try to blame others… or pin it on a disease… in either case we make ourselves out to be helpless in the situation!
There are REAL diseases in this world in which you will have NO decision in getting… but there are ‘conditions’ you can fall into that are totally avoidable if you will simply begin to make wise, biblical based decisions in your life…
In our passage tonight King David has died and Solomon has been chosen by God to rule over Israel. God comes to Solomon in a dream and asks him a question that many of us would love for God to ask… God asks Solomon, “…Solomon, you can have whatever it is you want… you name it, and I will give it to you…”
Can you imagine having God ask YOU that question… what would you ask for? I thought about it and many things came into my mind…
• MONEY!!! Yeah, baby money and lots of it…
• Stuff!! Lots and lots of stuff… material things…
• Happiness… a long happy life
But then I realized that all of the things I was thinking about were selfish in nature. I rationalized them by saying, if we have lots of money or lots of stuff… or we were really, really happy then my family will be taken care of, but really these were desires that would please me and my family was secondary…
But what did Solomon ask for, let’s go to God’s word and see…
READ SCRIPTURE HERE:
And God granted this to Solomon… and we find that the choice that Solomon made pleased God! And we see that God granted him a wise and discerning heart to rule as no one before him or no one after him would rule… even today we hear people use the phrase, “The wisdom of Solomon” when they are speaking about true wisdom…
There are several ‘keys’ we can look to in the prayer of Solomon that we can apply to our lives to help us to make wise decisions in our walk here in this world!
1. Solomon loved God (v.2)…
First we find that Solomon loved the Lord. We need to understand that a key element to pleasing God and gaining wisdom in life is loving the Lord.
Look in v.6… we can see that Solomon showed great respect and admiration for his godly heritage. Solomon knew he was living his life thru this godly heritage… the one started by his grandfather Jesse and his father David…and one day Solomon would pass this godly heritage onto his son Rehoboam… and we can read about him doing this in the book of Proverbs.
Solomon showed another key aspect of loving God in that he showed true humility in his prayer to God. Read v.7… He was overwhelmed when God approached him… he knew the task of being King was more than he could bear on his own and he needed God to lead, guide and direct his steps.
When we come to the end of our own natural abilities… when we get to the end of our rope… when we can do NO more on our own… it is then and only then that God has us right where He wants us to be… totally reliant upon Him! It is only at that time can we be used of God and God receive the glory and praise…
2. Solomon asked for understanding/wisdom (v.9)…
In this verse we find God summarizing Solomon’s prayer where he asks God for discernment in judging the nation he is about to begin ruling over…
God is impressed that Solomon would choose to first seek to help others… that he wanted the ability to rule with a fair and just hand…
There was no self-serving in the prayer of Solomon… and this true humility also pleased God. We know that Jesus when He came to earth He said that he did not come to be served… but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many…
We find that Solomon’s prayer so touched God that He granted Him his request, and Solomon was granted a super amount of wisdom… so much so that the Bible shares that there has NEVER been a man so wise… before or since!
And I want you to look at what else happened… God did not stop there… He granted the wisdom that Solomon had asked for, but God in His infinite grace and mercy granted Solomon the things he did not ask for… things like wealth, power, prestige and honor… so much so that in all the world there was no one so looked to as Solomon and all his riches!
Conclusion:
And today God is STILL the same… He has not changed! The Bible tells us that the eyes of the Lord are running thru all the earth to show Himself strong on the behalf of them whose hearts are perfect towards Him… Read Jer 29:11
“…for I know the thoughts I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope…” (NKJV)
We also know what God tells James in James 1:5…
“…if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him…” (NKJV)
God is saying… Ask for My wisdom! Ask for it and I will give it to you! Is that not what happened to Solomon? We see in the final verses of our passage for tonight that God granted the wisdom Solomon asked for… and in the very next chapter Solomon was challenged to make one of the wisest judgments ever…
The prayer that Solomon prayed is such a simple prayer… I don’t know why we simply refuse to pray it as well… We need to learn to pray as Solomon prayed… “Lord, give me understanding and discernment to judge correctly and justly…”
We are placed here on this earth to live our lives for God, but so many of us reject His counsel and His guidance. We have to make choices in this life and we make so many WRONG and BAD choices… but I believe we can change, with God’s help and guidance we can make the right choices in life…
And I believe that when we pray a prayer seeking His guidance and counsel…and when we pray it with a humble and sincere heart… God is going to be pleased and God is going to grant that request and we are going to be a great asset to the kingdom of God… for His glory!
PRAY!
