What do you want?

“The way to become wise is to honour the Lord; He gives sound judgment to all who obey his commands. He is to be praised forever”

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In 2 Chronicles chapter 1 we have the story of Solomon newly and firmly established as King, going to Gibeon with all of the leaders of the people to inquire of the Lord. King David had gone and here was this young and relatively inexperienced King sharing that they must go and inquire of the Lord together to ask Him for guidance. Maybe the question in the minds of Solomon and the leaders was “what do we do now”? The bible records:

“That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, ‘Ask for whatever you want me to give you.’ Solomon answered God, … 10 ‘Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?’”

Whatever was in the individual minds of the leaders, the Lord answered Solomon directly: “Ask! what shall I give you”? The question was not only about the substance of the gift that God would supply, but also a test of the heart – a test to see what was driving Solomon and give him an opportunity to know and manifest what was really in his heart.

I wonder how many of us find that God comes to us and turns our ideas, mindsets and questions around? When we were in the process of moving churches at one time our minds were occupied with where we would settle – where would our new spiritual home be? I discovered though that in fact all that the Lord seemed to be saying to me was: “Thank goodness you have stopped being part of all of that – if you put it all down and stop trying to work it out, I can actually speak to you about what is on my heart for you”. It turned out that the Lord wanted to show me some very simple things, and get me to soften my heart, repent some and refocus on Him, rather than engaging the ins and out of church life. After that, other stuff fell into place without a struggle.

We can try and imagine what Solomon and the leaders may have been thinking, and maybe wanting to ask for? Their thoughts may have been clouded with a lot of “stuff” - politics and what might be possible in the time of change, what might be better than in the past, and what might be worse. I wonder how many of them were ready to answer the real questions: “What do you want”? Why are you here?

Solomon realised that he didn’t want God to give him a roadmap to success – God had done this before with others – some who had been seeking the way and even a number who hadn’t. The instructions had been situational and varied, for example to Moses at the Red Sea: “Raise your staff over the water” and on another occasion “speak to the rock…” To Joshua at Jericho “walk around the city once for 6 days and 7 on the seventh day…” To Gideon “you have too many people bring them down to the water and I will sort them out…” To Naaman “dip in the river Jordan 7 times…”   To Jehoash “take the arrows and strike the ground…” and many, many more. Solomon knew that this kind of help was good and amazing but also limited. However, if the wisdom of the Lord was available to him 24/7 this would be much better – it would fill the hole that he felt in his heart and mind and enable him to fulfil the awesome responsibility that had become his – to lead God’s people.

I think that this story also anticipates the place that we are in as believers living after the events that we commemorate at Easter, and at a time when the Holy Spirit has been given to all who are “true followers of Jesus”. Jesus said to the disciples that the Holy Spirit was “with them” but would be “in them”. As such the Holy Spirit makes available to those who follow Jesus a host of attributes that represent the character of our heavenly Father (e.g. “fruits of the Spirit”), and “gifts of the Spirit” to attest to the truth of the preached word, minister to believers and non-believers, and bring deliverance and destroy the works of the evil one.

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We therefore don’t need to continually be asking “what do I do now Lord”? If we walk with Him, we will walk in His paths – although all of us will have asked and received specific guidance from the Lord or experienced His intervention in our lives from time to time, it is not so much the norm because children of God are led by the Spirit of God - brought into intimate relationship with our heavenly Father on a daily basis. Here are some scriptures to ponder about this daily ongoing relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit:

Romans 8:14-15

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

1 Corinthians 2:14-16

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

2 Peter 1;3-4

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 

4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Acts 4:31

And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

Hebrews 11:6

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that he exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek him

Both David and Solomon had grasped that: “The way to become wise is to honour the Lord; He gives sound judgment to all who obey his commands. He is to be praised forever”. It was this understanding that led them to honour the Lord and seek His face. Although we live in the light of the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus, and the outpouring of the gift of the Father – the Holy Spirit, and are recipients of grace and participants in the divine nature by faith in the God’s promises; are we missing the fulness of all that He has for us individually and collectively? Individually and collectively how do we capture the Father’s attention so that He comes and asks us “What do you want”? Individually and collectively – what would our answer be? Will we ask for a “road map to success” or something that reflects the desires that the Lord has put within us to see fruit for the Kingdom and His name honoured and glorified?

Author: Chris Pearson

May God bless and enrich your life

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