Read: 2 Chronicles 1:1-17; Matthew 6:33
In that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, “Ask what I shall give you.” (2 Chron. 1:7)
In learning to get dressed, a child learns that if you start with the wrong button at the bottom of the shirt, then things will not be right at the top of the shirt. I still occasionally rediscover that lesson! The same can be true in our spiritual lives.
At the very beginning of Solomon’s reign, God says to him, “Ask what I shall give you” (v. 7). Solomon could very easily start off in the wrong place, and then the entire kingship would go wrong. Overwhelmed with the responsibility of royal leadership, Solomon answers God and expresses his desire for wisdom and knowledge. Some might wonder whether Chronicles is glossing over an ugly history, for there’s no mention of Solomon’s use of slave labor to build the temple and the numerous foreign wives and concubines who ensnared Solomon and Israel in idolatry (accounts found in 1 Kings). But that wasn’t so in the beginning of Solomon’s reign! Here the point is that Solomon started correctly and approximated the spiritual ideal of a king whom the Chronicler believes his contemporary readers should emulate.
The Holy Spirit applies this spiritual lesson from Chronicles to our Christian discipleship today. Get started right; trust God for what follows. Jesus taught us to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:33).
As you pray, ask God to help you trust him as you seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.
About the Author
Kent Fry is a retired pastor and visiting research fellow at the Van Raalte Institute in Holland Michigan.
