At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, "Ask for whatever you want Me to give you." Solomon answered, "You have shown great kindness to Your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to You and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.  Now, O LORD my God, you have made Your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number.  So give Your servant a discerning heart to govern Your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of Yours?" The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So God said to him, "Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.  Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for--both riches and honor--so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings.  And if you walk in My ways and obey My statutes and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life." Then Solomon awoke--and he realized it had been a dream. He returned to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord's covenant and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then he gave a feast for all his court. Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.  One of them said, "My lord, this woman and I live in the same house. I had a baby while she was there with me.  The third day after my child was born; this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us. “During the night this woman's son died because she lay on him.  So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast.  The next morning, I got up to nurse my son--and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn't the son I had borne." The other woman said, "No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours." But the first one insisted, "No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine." And so they argued before the king. The king said, "This one says, 'My son is alive and your son is dead,' while that one says, 'No! Your son is dead and mine is alive.'" Then the king said, "Bring me a sword." So they brought a sword for the king. He then gave an order: "Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other." The woman whose son was alive was filled with compassion for her son and said to the king, "Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don't kill him!" But the other said, "Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!" Then the king gave his ruling: "Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother."          When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice.  1 Kings 3:5-28

The final test for us to determine whether or not we have been successful in this life is summed up very simply in this text. Solomon “loved the Lord.”

            Solomon was rich, he was wise, and he was a great man. As long as he loved and served the Lord he did fine. But as soon as he started relying on his wealth, his wisdom and his greatness everything fell apart. The scriptures tell us “To whom much is given much is required. When God sows plentifully in our lives He expects to reap a great harvest. When we truly love God we enjoy worship and we willingly give of our time and money to support God’s work. Money given to the Lord is never wasted! Time never given to the Lord is wasted. Likewise, God will repay us for the energy that we use in His ministry.

            It is up to us to prioritize where our labors go!

            In verses 5 and 6 we read, “At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, ‘Ask for whatever you want Me to give you.’  Solomon answered, ‘You have shown great kindness to Your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to You and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.’ ”

What would you ask for? Solomon, in this dream, began by thanking God for what He had already done. He had an attitude of gratitude.

In true humility he then asked God for wisdom. He stated, “I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties.  Your servant is here among the people You have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number.  So give Your servant a discerning heart to govern Your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of Yours?"

God was really pleased because Solomon had his priorities right. Part of God’s personal interest in us is that we do the things that please Him. After all, He IS God. God is certainly a loving, heavenly Father. He is interested in every aspect of our lives. He loves you like you love your children, siblings, or nieces and nephews.

Just as we want our children to mature, God wants us to mature.

Just as we want to bless our children, God wants to bless us.

Note God’s response in verses 10–14: “The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this.  So God said to him, ‘Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.  Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for--both riches and honor--so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. And if you walk in My ways and obey My statutes and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.’”

Jesus built on this idea in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 6:33 states, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Solomon's dream was no ordinary dream. We have all had dreams related to our stress – or dietary indiscretions. They probably were not very spiritual.

However, while we are sleeping, God can and often does speak to our subconscious. God may not speak to you in dreams very often, but He does teach us to ask for wisdom in James 1:5:  “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”

Solomon was the king, but he was also a humble man. He did not try to hide his weaknesses; he reached out to God in total honesty. “Lord, I am but a little child.”

Wisdom is to admit our weaknesses. Humility is to ask for strength to do the work that God has called us to do. In other words we do not hide or give up because we are weak. Rather we seek the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit and get started. As we mature in the Lord we learn that spiritual blessings are of greater value than worldly or financial blessings.

God gave Solomon riches and honor. You may be thinking, “Oh, I don’t want that.” And that is fine. The better question might be, would we accept riches and honor and handle it properly if God wanted to give it to us. Eventually Solomon dropped the ball and his wealth and human wisdom got him into trouble.

He made alliances with the wrong people and wound up with far too many wives and concubines.

Spiritual blessings are for the benefit of those around us. They are not trophies to be displayed on the mantle, or ways to gain the praise of other people.

Interesting enough, God wants us to earnestly seek spiritual blessings. Those blessings include the Word of Wisdom, the Word of Knowledge, Faith, Gifts of Healing, Working of Miracles, Prophecy, Discerning of Spirits, giving Messages in Tongues, and Interpreting those Messages. (I Corinthians 12)

I Corinthians 12:31 states, “Earnestly desire the best gifts.”  Although that is often debated, the simple definition of the best gift is that it is the gift needed at that moment!

While God wants to give us those spiritual gifts, sometimes we have to wrestle with God in prayer to receive them.

Wrestling with God in prayer does not change God… it changes us! It is persisting in prayer until we get so in tune with the Holy Spirit that our lives are transformed!

Receiving a blessing from God is a fantastic experience. Sometimes we think that having achieved that level gives us permission to relax for a while. Sounds good, but if you have been serving the Lord very long you know that being blessed is often a prelude – or preparation for a time of testing.

1 Kings 3:16-28 describes the test. Two prostitutes lived together. They got pregnant about the same time and gave birth to baby boys within three days of each other. Unfortunately, one of the babies died during the night, apparently because his mother rolled over on him and smothered him. According to the other woman’s testimony the mother whose son died quietly switched babies… And an argument ensued. Don’t try to fool the momma! When the mother looked at the baby closely she knew that the dead baby was not hers!

But, the two women lived alone, so there were no witnesses. There were no hospitals as we know them, and the babies were not foot-printed, no pictures were taken and DNA testing had not been invented yet.

The Israelites had a legal system, but it is believed that in matters this important the plaintiffs could bypass the system and go straight to the King.

So the king is faced with two very upset women, each claiming the living child as her own.

One can only imagine the outcry that we would hear today. But that was then, this is now. Times have changed. Solomon simply asked for a sword. He was going to divide the living child between the two women! 

The mother that lost her baby was not a reasonable person. She thought more like a 3-year-old. “If I can’t have a baby, she can’t either!” (I think we know what sort of mom she would have made!) She was full of envy and strife.

The mother of the baby was horrified at the prospect of her son dying so she simply said, “Let the baby live; let her have the baby.” It is easy to form a picture in our minds of how she looked. Head bowed in frustration, heart broken at the prospect of the king giving her son to this other woman. But she made the sacrifice.

Immediately Solomon – and probably everyone else in the courtroom knew who the baby’s mother was. Solomon leaned back, gave a sigh of relief and said, “Give the living baby to the first woman. She is the mother.”

Dwight L. Moody once told the fable of an eagle that was envious of another that could fly better than he could. One day the bird saw a sportsman with a bow and arrow and said to him, "I wish you would bring down that eagle up there." The man said he would if he had some feathers for his arrow. So the jealous eagle pulled one out of his wing. The arrow was shot, but it didn't quite reach the rival bird because he was flying too high. The first eagle pulled out another feather, then another--until he had lost so many that he himself couldn't fly. The archer took advantage of the situation, turned around, and killed the helpless bird. Moody made this application: if you are envious of others, the one you will hurt the most by your actions will be yourself. Source Unknown. Found at www.sermonillustrations.com

What Do You Want? We know that Solomon asked for Wisdom and God granted that, and then gave him everything else that most people would have asked for. Interestingly enough, if we carefully read the New Testament, God is asking us the same question.

Luke 12:48b, Jesus said: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” The King James Version simply states, “To whom much is given, much is required.”

This morning God is asking a simple question. Are we willing to receive many spiritual blessings so that we can be more productive in the Kingdom of God? Or we content with “just enough blessings to get by?” The choice is ours. Jesus Christ walked in wisdom every day of His life. He survived His infancy when King Herod wanted Him dead because His parents walked in wisdom. God told them to go to Egypt for a season. They went.

After Jesus entered His ministry there were times that He confronted those that opposed Him; there were times that He avoided them. On one occasion He took a man outside of the city limits so He could heal him. There was so much unbelief in that town that Jesus could not do a miracle.

We need to ask ourselves two questions:

1.    Am I building up my faith?

2.    Is God getting a good return on His investment?