1 Kings 3 - Wishes and Wisdom

One of my favourite questions to ask people is: What’s your favourite Disney movie? I’ve heard a lot of Lion King’s and Frozen’s and Beauty and the Beast’s over the years, but my personal favourite is probably Aladdin. The songs are fun, the story is interesting, and who doesn’t love Robin Williams as the Genie? The movie’s just super entertaining!

I’ve often wondered what it would be like to have a magic lamp with a genie that grants three wishes. What would you ask for? Would you ask for a million dollars? A fancy trip somewhere? An entire garage full of new bikes? A million more wishes? (That last one has to be cheating!)

Some of us might really like the idea of a genie offering us anything we could ever want on a silver platter. And sure, that idea sounds nice, but I wonder what we would do with all the stuff we might be tempted to ask for.

They say that people who win the lottery don’t end up being happier than they were. Sure, there’s the initial excitement of winning and getting to spend all that money, but eventually you realize having that much cash isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. You quickly realize that money actually can’t buy happiness.

That’s why I think Solomon’s story is so interesting. Solomon was one of Israel’s greatest kings. He was David’s son and took over ruling Israel after David died. He learned from his dad that being a good king meant following God’s commands and having a relationship with Him.

Now, back in the Old Testament, a large part of having a relationship with God meant offering sacrifices. Some sacrifices were done to cover up people’s sins so they could meet with God again, while others were just ways of thanking and praising God for everything He gives us. Thankfully, we don’t have to offer sacrifices anymore because Jesus took care of our sins forever when He died on the cross. And we have other ways of saying thank you to Him – like singing songs, listening to His instructions, reading the Bible, and stuff like that.

But back then, Solomon knew the importance of making sacrifices. The Bible actually talks about one time where Solomon made 1000 sacrifices to God at one of Israel’s altars. 1000 sacrifices! Can you imagine? Only a king would have all the animals and food stuffs needed to make that many sacrifices at once!

But our story really picks up the night after those 1000 sacrifices. The Bible says that while Solomon was asleep that night, God appeared to Solomon in a dream.

Try to picture that for a minute. There you are, sleeping away, dreaming of swimming across the ocean or flying through outer space or climbing a mountain made of Kit-Kat bars when all of a sudden, God appears in your dream. I don’t care that it was only a dream – once I realized it was God in my dream, I’d immediately fall on my face and worship.

But then God said to Solomon, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!” (1 Kings 3:5 NLT).

Now this isn’t quite a genie offering three wishes. If anything, it’s even better. The God who made the entire universe and rules over every living thing has just offered you anything you want. Anything.

And I wonder, if we were kings or queens, what would we have asked for? Would we have asked for our kingdoms to be richer than anyone else around us? Would we have asked for success in battle so we could conquer other nations? Or would we have asked for peace on our borders so our people would be protected?

I’m sure all of these things ran through Solomon’s mind. I could do great things with more money! Solomon would have thought. I could build roads, build castles, build temples. I could help the needy and make sure no one ever starves again!

But after all these things ran through his head, Solomon realized there was something that was more important. He thought of his father and how close David had been with God. And he remembered what his dad had taught him – that having a close relationship with God will make you a better king than any money or power or fame ever could.

So Solomon said to God, “Lord, you showed great love and kindness to my dad. You helped him rule well because he was faithful to You. And because he served You, You gave his throne to me so I could rule.”

Then he continued, “Now, O LORD my God, you have made me king instead of my father, David, but I am like a little child who doesn’t know his way around. And here I am in the midst of your own chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted! Give me an understanding heart that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?” (1 Kings 3:7-9).

Wow. What a thing to ask for! Solomon asked for wisdom. He knew he was young and still had a lot to learn. Sure, money and power would have helped, but wisdom would make the people love and respect him. It would make other nations come to him for advice and help him know how best to rule over Israel with the resources God had given him.

This was an extremely humble and selfless thing to ask for. Solomon was putting the interests of his kingdom before himself. And actually, Solomon showed great wisdom by asking for wisdom. He understood that wisdom begins with knowing God.

God was pleased with this request. He said, “Because you asked for wisdom and not for money or power or long life, I will give you what you asked for. I will give you a wise heart like no one ever before or after you. But not only that, I will give you what you haven’t asked for! You will be rich. You will be famous. No other king in the world will compare with you for the rest of your life! And if you obey me, like your father David did, then that life will be long.”

At that, Solomon woke up. He had to wonder if the whole thing had been just a dream. He probably didn’t feel all the different, rolled over, and went back to bed.

But we do know this – it wasn’t just a dream. Read the next few chapters of 1 Kings, and you’ll realize that Solomon truly was a wise king. In fact, there are stories of rules from countries miles and miles away coming to visit Solomon to hear his wisdom.

And with his wisdom came a great rule. Under Solomon’s leadership, Israel’s borders grew to the biggest they’ve ever been in all of history. And Solomon ruled so well that the country became extremely rich. So rich that “silver was considered worthless in Solomon’s day” (1 Kings 10:21). Can you imagine that? Silver being like the change you have in your pockets!

Of course, things didn’t stay perfect with Solomon. He eventually let his wealth and power get the better of him. He stopped focusing on God and used his wisdom to get power and status for himself. And this led him down a dangerous road. He turned away from God and worshipped idols instead. And his decisions had consequences that echoed through Israel’s history for hundreds of years after that.

Why do I bring that up? Because Solomon forgot what he knew when he was young. Wisdom begins with knowing God. Proverbs 9:10, something most people think Solomon wrote when he was a younger man, says, “Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.”

This isn’t fear as in, “Ah, a big scary monster is trying to eat me!” No, this kind of fear is more like reverence. That means it is honouring God and being amazed by how great He is. Fearing God means putting Him first and letting Him direct our paths, the wisest thing we can do.

Jesus says something similar in the New Testament. He says, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need” (Matthew 6:33). Solomon sought God and His wisdom first, and as a result, God gave Solomon everything he could ever want or need. But Solomon lost track of this wisdom at the end of his life, and his relationship with God and his kingdom suffered for it.

Wisdom begins with knowing God. When we know Him, everything else will follow. This means the wisest thing we can do in this life is grow closer to our Lord and Saviour. We don’t even need a genie to do that! We can start right here, right now.

So do the wise thing. Read your Bibles. Get to know God. Let Him teach You about who He is and how much He loves you for who you are. And as we grow closer to Him, He’ll share His wisdom with us each and every day.

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Hey all! Thanks for checking in! Because of the chaos and busyness of life, you may have noticed I'm posting a tad less frequently. Going forward, I'm hoping to maintain a posting schedule of about every three weeks (with the odd exception). That means next time should be March 18, where we'll pick up a little bit later in Solomon's life. Hope to see you all then!

~Brentagious

Matthew 25:14-30 - The Homonym Parable

Who knows what a homonym is? It’s an English grammar term for two words that have the same spelling but mean different things. Think of the word, “duck.” I ducked as the duck flew over my head. The first “duck” means to bend over, while the second is the quacking bird. Or how about “long”? I long for a long pair of long johns. The first “long” means want really badly, the second is the opposite of short, and long johns are full body underwear.

I studied English in school, so things like homonyms get me all giddy inside. But even if you find English and grammar super boring, keep homonyms in mind for today’s story. It’ll help us make sense of some stuff when we’re through.

Our story today is from Matthew 25, and we’re looking at the 2^nd of 3 parables Jesus told just a few days before He was crucified. He told these parables so His disciples would know what the Kingdom of Heaven is going to look like. But He was also telling these parables so they would know how to respond while He was gone.

And I don’t just mean after He was crucified. Jesus didn’t stay dead, but God raised Jesus from the dead three days later. But He didn’t stay here on Earth. 40 days later, Jesus rose to heaven on some clouds, promising that He would come back soon. We don’t know when that will be, but in these 3 parables, He teaches us that we need to always be ready because He could come back at any time!

That means we shouldn’t waste the time God has given us. Jesus wants us to use this time to tell others about Him so they can believe in Him too! Because when Jesus comes back, it will be too late for us to tell others about Him then.

But this second parable – the one we’re going to talk about today – tells us there are other things we shouldn’t waste while Jesus is gone. It begins with a master going away on a long journey. Just before he left, he called over three of his servants and gave them each some money. Or more specifically, “talents.”

In Jesus’ day, talents were like really expensive coins. They didn’t have bills or credit cards, so coins were worth a lot more than a nickel or a quarter (or a toonie for all us Canadians!). It’s hard to know exactly how much a talent would have been worth by today’s standards. Some say it was somewhere between $1,000 and $30,000. Others think that talents were worth close to a million dollars. Can you imagine that? An a million dollar coin!

This is why some translators of the Bible choose to use a different word than “talent” in this story. They might use bags of gold or silver. But I’m going to stick with talents.

 

Anyways, the master called over three servants. He gave one of them 5 talents, one 2 talents, and the last 1 talent. Even the servant who only received one talent must have held that money very carefully. This was a LOT of money their master had just given them. Think of all the stuff they could do! With that kind of money, their families would be well fed for a long time. They could have parties and buy the best donkey in town!

Of course, it wasn’t their money. And though the Bible doesn’t say the master gave his servants any instructions, we can assume he wanted them to take care of the money as if it were their own. In other words, don’t waste it. Keep the money safe and use it well.

We can imagine the master leaving, his servants waving at him as he rode off into the sunset, and then the first servant saying, “Well, time to get to work!”

“What do you mean?” the third servant asked. “Our master’s gone!”

“Well, sure,” the first servant replied, “but I don’t think he’d like it too much if we just sat around in his absence. He gave us this money, so I’m going to use it. I’ll invest a little, maybe use some to buy an extra field, hire some workers, and see if we can’t bring in a bigger harvest than we’ve ever seen! If I play my cards right, these five talents could easily become six or even seven!”

“That’s not a bad idea,” the second servant said, scratching his beard. “I’ve always thought about setting up a little carpentry shop in town. I already make the master’s furniture! If I use this money to buy some supplies, I could easily make some tables and chairs and make him a profit!”

“Are you guys nuts?” the third servant cried. “You’re gonna spend our master’s money? Do you have any idea what he’ll do to you if he finds out? Or if all these big dreams of yours fail and you lose money? He’ll have your hides for sure!”

“So what are you going to do with it?” the first servant replied.

“Bury it, of course!” the third servant said, grinning.

The first stared at him, mouth open. The second just shook his head.

“Think you know better, do you?” the third servant said as the silence dragged on. “Well, we’ll see who’s laughing when our master comes home!”

And so the three servants each went off to their own plans. The first servant bought that field and hired those workers. It was an extremely successful year, and the master’s property brought in more grain than it ever had. So much more that when they sold it all, the servant had enough to buy another field the next year!

The second servant started his little carpentry shop. It was tough slugging, and he was even nervous he would lose his masters money for a while, but by his second year in business, he had a solid group of clients and was making some decent money. He made back his two talents and then some.

The third servant did exactly what he said. He found a spot deep within the master’s fields and buried the money. He continued doing his normal jobs, confident the master would be happy to receive his money back exactly as he left it.

After two years, the master finally returned home. As his wagon approached, the first and second servants talked about their new work and how successful things had been. They compared notes on farming strategies and the best way to fix a crooked table. The third servant stood a few feet off, glaring at them.

They all greeted the master warmly, and he invited them into his home to eat with him. As the cooks were preparing dinner, he asked his servants how they had spent their time while he was gone.

The first servant said, “Master, I’m pleased to report that I’ve bought you two extra fields and hired a number of new workers while you were gone. But don’t you worry, those five talents haven’t been lost. In fact, I have ten talents now!”

The master smiled. “Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!” (Matthew 25:21 NLT).

Then the second servant spoke up. “Master,” he said, “I’ll admit the last few years have been hard. My skills have always been in carpentry, so I decided to set up a practice while you were gone. There were times I thought I was going to lose those two talents you gave me, but business has been going well lately. Those two talents you gave me have become four!”

Again the master smiled and gave the same blessing. “Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!” (Matthew 25:23 NLT).

The master then turned to the third servant, who had grown very quiet. He wasn’t so confident anymore. He swallowed, feeling like all the moisture had gone out of his mouth, and said quietly, “Master… I know you can be a hard man, growing angry with waste and harvesting crops you didn’t plant. I didn’t want to lose your money, so I hid it. Look, here’s your talent back.”

The master’s eyes narrowed. He took the talent back and said, “You wicked, lazy servant! If you knew this is how I would react, why didn’t you use the money better? You could have at least put it in the bank! Then it would have made interest! But as it is, you have wasted what I gave you.”

He then turned to the first servant and said, “You may have the talent the third servant wasted.” And he continued, “To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away” (Matthew 25:29).

Hearing that must have been devastating! The third servant meant well, but he completely misunderstood his master and his instructions. That’s why it’s important we get our instructions right too. The master in this story is Jesus, who has gone on his long “journey” to heaven. In his absence, He wants us to use what He has given us to glorify Him. The worst thing we can do is waste it.

So let’s talk about homonyms. We also have a word “talent” in English that has nothing to do with money. For us, talents are those things we are good at. In our story, the first servant was a great organizer and farmer, while the second was good at carpentry. They used their talents to double the money their master gave them.

God has given us many things. He’s given us time, money, and talents. But He didn’t give us those things so we could simply sit around and enjoy our time here on earth. Sure, it’s fine to have a good time, play some games with our friends or enjoy a meal out or something, but we must be careful not to waste the stuff God has given us. That includes sitting back and not doing anything at all.

Don’t waste anything God gives you. If you have a job or receive an allowance, consider using some of that money to help others. If God has gifted you with the ability to talk easily with others or teach or play soccer, then use those gifts to show and tell the world what it means to be a follower of Christ! And don’t just use your time for yourself, but use it to help build God’s kingdom.

We probably won’t literally double our money or talents when we use those things for the glory of God, but God does promise us a reward – a stronger and closer relationship with Him! And honestly, that worth way more than any talent ever could!

~Brentagious