This week's Bible Study - August 5, 2007
When Overwhelmed by Responsibilities
 Background Scripture:
1 Kings 3:1-15
Quote of the Week:
"Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it"
-- Albert Einstein
Life is full of responsibilities. It starts small - as children. We learn responsibility in chores around the house or caring for a pet or in a variety of other means. For some children, responsibility comes in much larger packages - as they have to care for their younger siblings or perhaps for ill parents. When we went to school, we became responsible for completing assignments and studying for tests - or paying the consequences. At the time, we may have thought life was difficult. As we got older, we dealt with part-time jobs and other responsibilities, having to split our time between classes and work and time with friends and family. Then, for many, college came and some threw away responsibility, while others because more and more responsible.
Then, as we enter the work force, we are faced with responsibilities of jobs and careers. Families bring additional responsibilities, as we find ourselves juggling time with jobs and kids and church and so many other things. At times, it seems that we can become overwhelmed - so many things vying for our attention. Generally, if we take each day as it comes, we are able to deal with what we have to deal with. But, sometimes, we can get over our heads. Our choices and decisions impact more and more people. Managers at companies are responsible for their employees - and decisions that are made can impact the company and the families that are represented. It can add a great toll to someone's life to realize how their decisions can impact so many people.
One thing we know from this passage and from other passages regarding Solomon was that he loved the Lord. His zeal and passion for God was unmistakable, but he did have a few things in his life that were questionable. King Solomon made an alliance with the king of Egypt and married his daughter. You can imagine the benefits he may have gained with this arrangement - politically, militarily, socially, etc. He brought his new wife to the City of David until he finished building the temple of the Lord and his palace, and the wall around Jerusalem.
Solomon had some fairly lofty objectives and he knew where he was headed. He was what you may want to call "a man with a plan". Do you have a plan for your life? In my job, I deal with a lot of people who don't seem to have a plan for where they want to go in their career, so they just get where they end up by default. Sometimes this works out okay, but if this is how someone plans their career - they end up going from job to job, without ever really getting anywhere. In career planning, it is best to see what types of skills you need in order to become what you want to be - a doctor, an accountant, an engineer, a teacher, etc. Acquiring these skills over time helps you to meet your goal. Just as in career planning, life planning is much the same way (yet much more important). Are you planning where you are headed - and including God in your plans, or are you just going to end up wherever you end up?
Even though Solomon was seeking the Lord, the people were still worshipping in the high places, because the temple was not ready. Solomon walked according to the statutes of his father David, with the exception of offering sacrifices and burning incense in the high places. David offered sacrifices in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant. I believe that this was still to be where the center of the spiritual worship of God should have taken place, as these high places were notoriously known for idol worship. However, God could see that Solomon's heart was bent on praising and worshipping God in truth, so the place was less important than the heart behind the sacrifice.
Solomon went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, which was the most important high place. He offered a thousand burnt offerings on the Gideon altar, which pleased God. Solomon's heart was one that desired to please the Lord. As he sought God with intensity, God appeared to him in a dream. If God appears to us based on our intensity, would we ever hear from him? Many of us attend church regularly, but is it with an intensity that we seek God?
What would you do if God told you to ask for whatever you wanted him to give you? If God did ask this question to us, our response would say a lot about who we really are. Many people would make very selfish requests - to be incredibly rich or powerful. Others would ask for something very short sighted - the ability to get out of a situation or to rectify something. As the joke goes, others would probably request two more things, and then two more and then two more.
Before Solomon made any request, he considered how God had dealt with his father, David, and with Solomon himself. God's kindness to both David and Solomon was based upon their faithfulness to God and that they were righteous and upright in heart. If you've studied the life of David, you've seen this at times, but you've also seen the incredible failures in David's life - his sin with Bathsheba, his murder of Uriah (her husband), his inability to deal with family issues - and consequences of many of these sins in his life. God didn't start working with David after he got his act together - but God was working with David all along - and David still made huge mistakes. But, David turned back to God. This is the lesson we all need to hear - as we deal with personal failures in our lives - that we can still turn to God and be seen as faithful. Just as Solomon considered how God had dealt with his father and others in the past, so should we. It is too easy to get caught up in the here and now, forgetting that God is consistent and deals with His people over a period of time, as opposed to spot instances.
After Solomon considered what God had done by allowing Solomon to be king, he considered his own inadequacies. Do we realize our intense need for God to work in our lives to be success? God doesn't just work in the lives of preachers and missionaries. He also works in the lives of people in all different walks of life. Especially, as Christians, we are Solomon stated that he was as a little child and didn't no how to carry out his duties as king. He was the king over God's people, who were great in number and very special to God. What a responsibility - and how overwhelming this could be. Have you ever looked at a situation that you are in - and hit the realization that is was more than you could handle?
Solomon's request was the God would give him a discerning heart to govern God's people and to distinguish between right and wrong. He asked for wisdom. Interestingly enough, it took a large amount of wisdom to ask for wisdom. It takes wisdom to know that you need more wisdom. In the book of Philippians, chapter 1, Paul and Timothy wrote to the saints in Philippi. Their prayer for the saints was that "their love would abound more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, in order to approve the things which were excellent in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ." We need to pray for knowledge and discernment, which truly only comes from God.
This request for wisdom in the midst of our situations that we face is still crucial. We come into the world not knowing how to handle situations. We learn more and more as we grow, but when are honest, we are utterly dependent upon God to give us the wisdom to act in all areas of our lives. When we go on automatic pilot, we tend to make many mistakes. It may be in your family or your job or how to deal with other situations - we all need the wisdom of God.
God was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom. You get the impression that others had asked for other things (God knows the heart of man - he knows what we would ask) - things like long life or personal wealth or the death of enemies. You can imagine that these would be among the top requests of many people. However, Solomon asked for discernment, which pleased God.
God intended to give Solomon what he wanted - a wise and discerning heart, so that he would become the epitome of wisdom. (You may know that Solomon ended up with 700 wives and concubines, and 700 mother-in-laws - wisdom?). In making wise decisions regarding the overseeing and governing of his people, the nation would prosper.
God would also bless Solomon with incredible riches and honor - far above kings of his day. He also promised long life if he walked in God's ways and obeyed his statutes and commands. You may think of the passage in Matthew - seek first the kingdom of God, and all of these things will be added to you.
It was a dream, but it impacted Solomon. Solomon knew that God had spoken and given him what he had asked for. God spoke in many different ways to his people in the Old Testament and since. To Solomon, it was in a dream. To others, it was visions and angels and through the written word of God. God still speaks and reveals himself to us. Are we in a position to hear him? Personally, I know that sometimes I get so caught up in my work or in other pursuits that it still occupies my mind at night. I will sometimes awake thinking about the problems from work. Do we occupy ourselves so much with the word of God such that it continues to speak in our dreams?
Closing
In our world with so much going on, it is easy to become overwhelmed in all that we have to do. Sometimes, it is just being busy, but in many of our pursuits, our decisions impact many other people. Many people reach a point of not being able to handle it, and having to seek all types of help. They go to counselors and doctors and pastors - trying to figure out how to pull it all together. God truly is the source of wisdom - and he can give you what you need. It is there for the asking - but it is more than just knowing. Many people have knowledge - they know what to do. Wisdom is the ability to apply one's knowledge. Pray for the wisdom of God.
I have no way of knowing what your situation is right now. I do know that in my own life there have been plenty of times where I defaulted to my own wisdom, rather than God's, and it has caused many problems. I have seen that we, as Christians, are capable of failure. But, I've also seen that God will impart wisdom to those who seek Him and ask for it.
If you are looking at the wisdom of our times, you will see that it always changes. Often, people will go into a situation with the answer that they want, trying to make the pieces fit so that they get their answer. God's wisdom never changes. What decisions might you have made differently if you had followed God's wisdom over your own? Where might you be today?
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