My Wish

Sermon as preached at Lambs UMC and Evington UMC.  8/19/12

Scripture- 1 Kings 3:3-14

Close your eyes, make a wish, no that’s not just the opening line to a Boys II Men song, but it is also something we are used to saying at our birthday parties. We light candles on the cake, close our eyes, make a wish, and then blow out the candles and supposedly our wish will come true.  This idea of making wishes and having them granted is nothing new. We are all familiar with the stories of Genies in a lamp that grants three wishes. My favorite rendition of this story is of course Disney’s remake of the classic Aladdin story. Who couldn’t love the big blue Genie with the voice of Robin Williams, it’s just hilarious. And in the movie there is that classic scene where Aladdin is first introduced to the Genie through the wonderful song, “Never had a friend like me.” In the song the Genie is telling Aladdin of his own power, and is showing him all the amazing things that he could wish for. He shows him that he can offer Aladdin protect from the thieves that are after him, or that he could give Aladdin super strength to be able to defend for himself. He entices Aladdin with the possibility of endless exotic food, and of course more gold than he could imagine. He tempts Aladdin with the appeal of beautiful women, or the appeal of being a suave, important, well respected member of society. All of these things can be Aladdin’s with just one simple wish. We all know the greed that is behind all of these desires, and we have heard other stories of greed in making wishes. There are countless number of stories where characters try to gain more wishes so that they could have even more. There is something so appealing to us about having our wishes granted.

            But having our wishes granted is not always a horrible and greedy thing, we have seen times that even when a wish is for oneself, that sometimes there is still an innocence and a grace in having that wish granted. In particular I think of the make a wish foundation, foundation that listens to the wishes of children with life threatening conditions, and tries to make those dreams come true. Recently this summer ESPN has been airing what they call “My wish” which are short documentary segments, showing athletes such as Lebron James and Kyle Bush, participating with the make a wish foundation to bring joy to the children, and bring joy to the family. Another show that grants the wishes of many people in tough situations, is Extreme Makeover Home Edition. I remember one special episode in particular where former recipients of a house wanted to help out others, in this case it was a group of kids that had a rare disease that made it dangerous for them to be exposed to any sunlight at all. Because of these conditions, none of these kids had ever been able to go to Disney World, but the people at ABC pulled some strings and they opened up Disney at midnight until 4 in the morning just for these kids. When you hear about wishes like these being granted, it is hard not to well up with emotions of joy. So we now have a view of wishes being granted that makes you feel warm in your heart, and yet we also have the other view of greed and lust that comes with making wishes. All of it leads us to ask ourselves, what should we wish for?

            In our passage today this is the dilemma presented to King Solomon, what should he wish for? You see, the Lord came to Solomon in a dream and told him, “Ask what I should give you.” Can you imagine that!! This is greater than any foundation, this is even greater than a genie in a bottle, The Lord, has come to you and tells you “ask what I should give you.” Now you know that the Lord is capable of anything, and so now anything can be yours. So what do you wish for? King Solomon knew of many things that he could have wished for. He was a new King, with very little experience. He is also the son of David, the great King of Israel, his whole life he has had a shadow cast over him by his father. They say in sports, that one of the hardest things as a new coach is to follow in the footsteps of a legend, but here is Solomon; he’s not following in the footsteps of Don Shula, or Bear Bryant, or Phil Jackson, or Mike Krzyzewski, no Solomon is following in the footsteps of King David!! I don’t know about you, but one of the first things I would have asked for from the Lord, was for the same power and respect that David had; but this is not what Solomon asked for.

            Solomon could have also asked for riches; sure he was already King and well to do, but we don’t see that stopping many of the wealthiest people in our society today from doing whatever they can to earn more. Solomon is known for the way he extended  the Kingdom of Israel, building a new palace, large walls, and a new Temple. More riches could have been used by Solomon to make even more extravagant buildings in Jerusalem, yet Solomon did not ask for riches.

            Maybe most importantly, Solomon could have asked for protection, because at this time he sure could have used it.  Solomon’s reign as King got off to quite a rocky start, to say the least.  Even as his father David was dying there was still debate in the Kingdom of who the next King would be. You see Solomon was not actually David’s oldest son, his oldest son was Adonijah. Now as the oldest Adonijah believed that he should be the rightful heir to the throne, yet God had appointed Solomon as king. There were also many others who throughout the reign of David, had tried to overthrow his reign, and many of these people and their followers were also still alive. So Solomon takes reign as King of Israel with both his brother and countless others trying to take his place. Solomon didn’t do much to make these people like him either, one of his first acts as king was to consolidate his kingdom, which is a nice way of saying he killed off those who he suspected of coming for his throne, including killing his own brother. With all of this turmoil right in the beginning of his reign, it would have made so much sense for him to ask for protection, or better yet ask for the death of all of his enemies, yet still this is not what Solomon asked for from the Lord.

So what did Solomon ask for?  ““You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, 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 today.⁷And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in.⁸And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted.⁹Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?” Wow, for all of the downfalls and wrong actions throughout the reign of Solomon, he sure did get it right this time. Solomon didn’t ask for power, Solomon didn’t ask for riches, Solomon didn’t ask for protection, Solomon recognized the way the Lord had been faithful to his father David, understood that Israel was far less his kingdom, than it was the Lord’s kingdom, and so Solomon simply asks for an understanding mind and the ability to discern between good and evil.” What an amazing and humble wish.

            But what does it mean to wish for an understanding mind, and the ability to discern between good and evil? Well it seems obvious that Solomon is asking for the ability to know right from wrong, to ability to make the right decision, but is that really all that he is asking for? You see the phrase “understanding mind” in the Hebrew literally means “listening heart.” This is important because in the time of Solomon, the heart was seen as one of the most central aspects of a person. It was not only where they believed all intellect came from, they also believed that it was an organ of perception. That means they say that God spoke to their hearts, they meant it literally. So to have a listening heart, means to have a heart that was always open, ready, and receptive to hear the word of God. Solomon is not just asking to know the difference between good and evil, that’s the folly that Adam and Eve made; by eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve were trying to make themselves like gods. This is why Solomon asks for a listening heart, an understanding mind, because what he is really asking for is God’s guidance. He is saying, “Lord I am a mere human, and a new king at that, If I try to lead your kingdom from my own knowledge I will fail, so let me hear what you will have me do.

            So was the Lord pleased with Solomon’s response? I’ll let you decide for yourself. The Lords says, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right,¹²I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. ¹³I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you.”  We see that by asking for God’s guidance in his life; a selfless humble wish, Solomon not only has his wish given unto him, but is given all of that which he didn’t even ask for.

            So is our wish the same as Solomon’s wish? Is our desire to have an understanding mind and a listening heart? Is our one wish for our lives, for us to have the ability to follow God?  There are some who may read this passage and say absolutely! Solomon asked for this ability and because he did he got riches and power, but that’s not really how it works. Too often we have this mentality of what’s in it for me. How will the benefit me? Brothers and Sisters this is not the approach to take when asking for God to direct your life. We do not love God because we expect something in return. We do not ask for God to guide our lives because we anticipate God repaying the favor later on. We ask for a listening heart and understanding mind, we ask for God to lead our lives, because God is God, and we are not.

            This concept becomes quite apparent when you start to think about it.  Say you’re on an airplane, thousands of feet in the air, who do you want flying the plane, you or the pilot? Or say a loved one is in critical condition in the hospital,  do you want to be in there working on them, or would you rather have the doctor? So in our own lives, whose guidance do we want to listen to, our own, or the all-knowing, all powerful, all-loving, Lord of all creation? Seems like an easy choice to me.

            And when we put our lives in the hand of the father, when we accept Jesus into hearts, when we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us, then of course there will be some blessings that come our way. Some may instead be blessed in the same way that Solomon was, yet others on the other hand will actually face many more hardships on earth because they follow Christ. You see we have such a limited understanding of good and evil, we can’t fully grasp the many wonderful ways that God in working in our lives and in the world. The one thing we do know that through the good times and the bad, what we do have is grace. We have the love and mercy of God,  we have Emmanuel, God with us. This grace is there before we even know it leading us towards making that wish, for God to guide or lives, and that grace is there with  us always, through our successes, and when we fall, a grace to lead us on towards perfection, and when time on earth comes to its end, a grace to lead us home. So now I invite us now into a time of prayer, the altar is open to anyone or you may pray in there in your pew, but I invite you take this time to go to the Lord, close your eyes, and make a wish, a wish for a understanding mind and a listening heart.