Facing Challenges God's Way: I Kings 3:1-15

We are in a season of new beginnings. The New School Year is just underway. There are new teachers, new friends, new things to learn, new schools for some. We have a new pastor, a new style to learn, new ideas to hear, new ways of leading, and new ways of doing ministry. We will have a New District Superintendent here in the newly called Smokey Mountain District come September 1st. We are entering an election season and there are sure to be some new city, county, state and national leaders rise from that. Personally I am beginning a new journey this week as I begin traveling to Atlanta every week to attend seminary. My family faces new routine, new eating habits, new places to stay, new people to get used to. What other new things might you encounter? A new relationship? A new health diagnosis? A new job? Change; be it good or bad is never easy. How to deal with change or new things in our lives is the subject of much research and writing. A Google search of the question “how to deal with change” yields 1,530,000,000 results.
When I first read the passages of scripture and began thinking on them I told Rennie to title the sermon Changing of the Guard. The first part of the I Kings passages tells us that David has died and his son Solomon has been chosen to be his successor. We know David’s life was not one of purity and perfection but we also know that David was a man “after God’s own heart” and that he had been a successful and popular King. Surely they was anxiety among the people over the looming change. About 6 years ago as I sat in the pew at Longs Chapel listening intently to the beloved Rob Fuquay who happened to be preaching about the subject of change, my heart sank and my anxieties loomed when he began “and today I find myself in a place of change.” Before he said it I knew. He had been with us for much longer than most Methodist preachers are allowed to stay in one place. We had become very comfortable and familiar with his presence and leadership. He was dynamic. Every sermon was delivered in such a way that the hearer felt as if though it was tailor made just for them. I knew with those words that the familiarity, the acceptance, the love was getting ready to be taken from us and someone new would be taking the realm. We were asked to come to the altar and pray for him. I doubt that many of us did that. I know that I for one approached the altar of God with weeping and gnashing of teeth and questions of why. Perhaps the Israelite would feel this way over losing their beloved king, David. The day came though that he departed and Dr. Chuck Wilson would take his place. The first Sunday Chuck was with us; he approached the stage and sat down. He held up a shoe and said “do you know what this is? It is a shoe? It’s not just any shoe. It is Rob Fuquay’s shoe. He then took a shoe off his foot and put Rob’s shoe on his foot and remarked “no, it doesn’t fit.” I cannot fill Rob Fuquay’s shoes, I can only fill mine.” Turns out that he his footprints have made their mark on Longs Chapel. Solomon too would make his mark on Israel.
When I looked closer at the story though I realized that the focus of this story was not on how the mass of people would deal with the changing of the guard but how Solomon would face this new challenge of becoming King. How do people face new challenges or change? This was one of two questions I posed to my Facebook friends in preparation for this sermon. Some people “face it head on.” Some people spend hours worrying about it and then give it to God to bring them through. Some people “don’t accept new challenges they just take each day as it comes, measure it and use the best judgment God has given.” When a challenge seems too big some people “stand still and wait for the storm to pass.” Still others when faced with a challenge “by asking for God’s direction.” Some people ask for God’s will to be done and for the strength to face the new challenge.” One friend said they would Play judo with challenges. Take the force directed at you and change its direction. It doesn't matter what happens to you, it's what you think about what happens that causes your reaction to It”. There is a business fable about change called “Who moved the Cheese” by Spencer Johnson. In this fable there are two mice and two miniature humans in a maze. They have found cheese in cheese station c of the maze. The humans have developed routines and processes by which they go and eat the cheese each day. The mice just eat it and eventually it is gone. The mice come and see the cheese is gone and head off to find more cheese somewhere else, which they do in Cheese Station N. However, the humans have to discuss it and ponder over it. One of the humans proposes that they go look for more, but the other is satisfied with his routine and keeps coming back to station C just to find no cheese. Eventually the one human goes off in search of the cheese and hopes that eventually his buddy will realize that it’s best to move on then to stay stuck and die of hunger. The lessons to be learned from this story were:
Change Happens
They Keep Moving The Cheese
Anticipate Change
Get Ready For The Cheese To Move
Monitor Change
Smell The Cheese Often So You Know When It Is Getting Old
Adapt To Change Quickly
The Quicker You Let Go Of Old Cheese, The Sooner You Can Enjoy New Cheese
Change
Move With The Cheese
Enjoy Change!
Savor The Adventure And Enjoy The Taste Of New Cheese!
Be Ready To Change Quickly And Enjoy It Again
They Keep Moving The Cheese. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Moved_My_Cheese%3F)


And, there are 1 billion, 529 million more answers to the question of how to deal with a new challenge or change. However, our lesson today comes from looking at how Solomon deals with His new Challenge. Sometimes we may deal with new challenges in a way that is not very effective. Such was the case with Solomon. Look at Chapter 3 vs. 1: Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the LORD, and the wall around Jerusalem. It was strictly forbidden for Israelites to intermarry with those idol worshippers from Egypt yet Solomon did this in order to make friends with a potential favorable enemy. Compromise such as this is one way one can face a new challenge and is the way that Solomon initially faced his new challenge of being King. If we read the rest of the story we find out that this decision to mix with idolaters ends up becoming the ruin of King Solomon. Sometimes we make wrong decisions. What we do know about Solomon from the next couple of verses as that he really desires and tries to be true to God. Verses 2 and 3 read “The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built for the Name of the LORD. 3 Solomon showed his love for the LORD by walking according to the instructions given him by his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places” (NIV) These verses tell us a couple of things. They tell us the condition that the people he is leading are in. They are deep into idolatry worship. That is what it meant here to say they went to the high places to sacrifice. The second thing we find out is that Solomon loved the Lord and showed his love for the Lord by walking according the instructions of his father David and then there is that word Except…..Except he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places. Meaning, he too participated in idolatry practice. His spirit was divided. Do we ever find ourselves in that condition? Lord I want to follow you except that whole love your enemy thing? I am not so sure about that. Lord, I want to follow you except that tithing thing is really hard for me. Lord, I want to follow you but it’s really hard for me to give up control. Lord, I want to follow you, but really forgive? This thing is unforgivable. the list could go on of the things we don’t want to give up, or don’t feel comfortable doing, or don’t believe we can do.
It is during one of such times that God appears to Solomon. Vs. 4-5 read “The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” (NIV). The thing that is most amazing about this is that God comes to Solomon where he is, in the midst of him sacrificing in a high place, the most important high place. Does he fuss at him? Does he strike him down with a lightning bolt? Does he go post on Facebook what he saw Solomon doing? Does he make Solomon write a paper about the error of his ways and a strategy for not doing it again? The answer is no to all of those questions. Instead God chooses that place, that bed of sin, to be the place where he approaches Solomon. In a dream God says to Solomon “Ask for whatever you wish for and I will give it to you?” Really God? You’re just going to grant him wishes. What would you wish for? Writers of other sermons on this passage spoke of asking for wealth, riches, and mostly material things. I posed this question on Facebook and got some really great responses. Here they are:

• If God were to appear to me, I would want to know the answers to all the mysteries of the universe. So, in order to fit that into one thing, I suppose I would ask for omniscience.
• To take away the burden, make it lighter; heal my brother’s mental illness.
• I would ask for me daughter back Hannah died at 3 years of age but that would be selfish. There are so many things, all orphans families, everyone who’s homeless a home, no one hungry and world peace
• for all families to be united with love for each other...
• forgiveness.
• pure love, peace for the world.
• Heaven on earth just for one day... NO war...hate...violence...abuse...illness...politics...religion...addictions...just that we would all be in His presence...dancing in His fields of grace. Loving God as we understand Him. Not someone else. Accepting and loving each other. Just one day.
• to have my mother-in-law still alive and my family back together.
• to see my Grandmother Ulrich and Granddaddy Hammond again. Really miss them! I would want my children to meet them and know them.
• Ask Him to save all my lost family members and fee them of their addictions.
• I would ask for all the hatred to be gone for at least one day to see what that looks like.
• I guess I first would be surprised god came to see me, but then would ask to stop hunger in the world
These are all wonderful things to ask for and I am quite proud of my Facebook friends for being mostly selfless in their answers. Let’s see how Solomon answers God’s question. Verses 6-9 read: Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.
7 “Now, LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. 8 Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. 9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?” (NIV)
Solomon doesn’t immediately nor directly answer God’s question. First he acknowledges that he is God’s servant. His role as King is a part of God’s plan. His talent/gift must be used in service to God. Secondly he acknowledges that he has experienced God’s power through watching his father David. Next he acknowledges his weaknesses and insecurities. “God I don’t know what I am doing here. I am young; I don’t know how to be a King. The task before me seems way to big. The mountain ahead seems unclimbable. And with that understanding he then asks God for what he believes he needs the most. He asks God for Wisdom. The NIV translates the same word to be a “discerning heart.” The Message reads this way: “Give me a God-listening heart so I can lead your people well, discerning the difference between good and evil. For who on their own is capable of leading your glorious people? A God listening heart…..How do we hear God. How do we gain this wisdom of knowing good from evil, knowing just from unjust and putting that knowledge in right practice for that is what wisdom is?
Proverbs 1:7 states “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.” James 1:5 states but if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. James 3:17 states But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. I Corinthians 1:30 states But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption. These are just a few of the verses that address wisdom. In the NIV translation the word wisdom is mentioned 219 times. The word discernment is mentioned 6 times. The word wise is used 189 times. Thus the idea of wisdom is mentioned at least 414 times. It is important. According to the verses just mentioned to receive wisdom one must “Fear the Lord.” Fear of God does not mean to be afraid. I am not afraid of my dad but I certainly fear him, meaning that I respect him. I respect his opinion of me. The 5 words I most hated hearing from my father when I was growing up was I am disappointed in you. I would have rather gotten a beating. How did I keep from disappointing my Dad? I had to know what he expected from me and then act accordingly. Wisdom requires knowing what God expects and then acting accordingly. How do we know what God wants? We know what God wants of us by daily being in his Word, by writing the words of God on our hearts. I guarantee you that if you start each day out, even just 5 or 10 minutes, reading God’s word and spending time in reflection that you will feel better about the decisions you make during the day. Secondly, spend time each day in prayer asking God to give you wisdom to make right choices as you go throughout your day. Lastly, God gave us another source of wisdom in his son Jesus. Study the actions of Jesus and make them your own.
What new challenges are you facing today? What will your response be to those challenges? Go to God, Listen for God, What he gives is pure, generous, peaceable, gentle, full of mercy and good fruits. Eat of the fruit of wisdom today my friends.
Thanks be to God.