… the LORD appeared to Solomon …. in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you………I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart…” 1 Kings 3:5, 12 NIV

Do you have your 15-30 second elevator speech ready?

Aspiring, focused visionaries, whether actors or entrepreneurs, know what they want and prepare themselves to ask without hesitation should the ‘right person’ come along. When they step into an elevator and recognize someone who might facilitate a connection or provide a contact they are ready to make the ask and give their why without shame or stumbling around.

King Solomon similarly prepared himself.  He knew what he lacked, which skill or quality without which he could not rule the people entrusted to him.

This is easy to imagine. For as the newly enthroned king, can’t you just picture the depth and weight of his overwhelm, following in the footsteps of his dad, King David?

We know that God loved Solomon, for he chose THIS son, NOT David’s oldest, to govern his own people.  The Almighty illustrates his tender care by coming to the new ruler in the middle of a night’s anxious tossing and turning.  When the Father asks Solomon what he wants or needs, the young king is ready with his ask. You know that if he is dreaming this encounter, his desire has penetrated the deeps of his heart.  This is no casual afterthought. 

From this conversational dream, I note the power of our words, our pleas for help, underscored by God’s response to Solomon, who requested understanding to govern.  God’s quick response literally is, ‘I do or I bring about or I make happen according to your WORDS.’  What we speak, reflects our core beliefs and our words matter more than we imagine.

What David’s son requested; God granted. Solomon’s ‘spoken’ words in his dream sprang from his heart’s desires.

God teaches us to learn, know, desire, guard and declare what his Word proclaims. As my friend, Mayra, says: ‘our words augment or build up our faith’.  Of course, any unbelieving word we speak, an articulated belief which don’t fit reality (aka: God’s truth), quite naturally diminishes and damage our confidence in God.

Cycling back to my initial question, just what is it that you desire?  God both evaluates and encourages our desires.

Psalm 37:4 Find your delight in the LORD who will give you your heart’s desire. (NAB)

Are you and I ready to tell God what we want?  I am!  Pain has convinced me of that.  I have asked God to heal my body and I am proclaiming to myself and to others that he already has. It is what I most desire right now.

Maybe some of you feel uneasy with this lavish but serious fact about God.  Your counter argument might go, “We can’t just ask God for a Maserati because that is what we desire!” Well, why not?

I believe our Father trusts all of his children who delight in, who LOVE more than anything just to be with him, to listen to him, to hang out with him.  Isn’t that what the text says?  Those who LOVE his presence and company above all else in the world are invited, are encouraged to take him up on his offer.

Jesus taught likewise.  John records the Savior’s promise to the disciples in John 15:7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. (NAB)

‘Remain in Jesus. Delight in God more than in anything or anyone.’ I don’t see any contradiction between loving God with my whole heart so that I want to be near him throughout the day and night AND still desiring other, lesser things.

Taking God simply at this word, I’ve asked and I’m daily asking Jesus for healing. And that’s just the top of my list of desires.

But what if my desires are not in God’s will? I would counsel, get some practice praying for what God’s word DOES tell us we are to ask. ‘Pray like this:  …..Holy be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done. Matthew 6:9  Ask of me and I will give….Psalm 2:8. ‘Ask, and you shall receive.  Matthew 7:7.’   

Dallas Willard addresses our fear of being TOO out there with our longings by sharing an illustration of why God trusts us, giving us liberty to ask what we want.

“When our children were small, they were often completely in my will as they played in the back garden, though I had not told them to do the particular things they were doing. They would still have been within my will even if they were playing in their rooms or having a snack in the kitchen.” (page 27, Hearing God through the Year)

Where were his kids at this time? They were abiding in their father’s house, with him. He was within an ear’s range.  They could do what they wanted; all the while attentive to Dad’s call. But I bet my last bite of avocado that if their father had called to them to come share a board game or to play hide-and-seek or fight imaginary dragons they would have come running.  Time with Dad was what they most delighted in.

So, I ask you, what do you want?  Give me an idea of at least ONE thing.