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“The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee” (1 Kings 3:5).
“And Solomon said…Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people…for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?” (1 Kings 3:6,9).
How would you like to have the Lord ask you what you wanted? That would be a wonderful thing! Solomon could have asked the Lord for anything, and I believe the Lord would have given it to him. He could have asked Him for riches, or victory over his enemies, or honor, and the Lord would have given them to him. But as we see in our second verse, Solomon did not ask for any of those things. Rather, he asked for wisdom to be able to rule well, and to be able to judge the vast number of people over which he would reign.
Solomon was only a young man, probably not even yet twenty years old, so it is easy to see how he was a little frightened at having to be king, and to judge the people. The Lord granted his request, but because Solomon had asked for wisdom, the Lord gave him the other things he had not asked for—riches and honor, so that no other king would be like him.
All this reminds us of what the Lord Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). If we put the Lord first in our lives, He will make sure that we are supplied with everything else we need.
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