Solomon loved the Lord and followed all the decrees of his father, David, except that Solomon, too, offered sacrifices and burned incense at the local places of worship. The most important of these places of worship was at Gibeon, so the king went there and sacrificed 1,000 burnt offerings. That night the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!”

Solomon replied, “You showed great and faithful love to your servant my father, David, because he was honest and true and faithful to you. And you have continued to show this great and faithful love to him today by giving him a son to sit on his throne.

“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 so 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?”

The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom. So God replied, “Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people with justice and have not asked for a long life or wealth or the death of your enemies— I will give you what you asked for! I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no one else has had or ever will have! And I will also give you what you did not ask for—riches and fame! No other king in all the world will be compared to you for the rest of your life! And if you follow me and obey my decrees and my commands as your father, David, did, I will give you a long life.”

Then Solomon woke up and realized it had been a dream. He returned to Jerusalem and stood before the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant, where he sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then he invited all his officials to a great banquet.
1 Kings 3:4-15

Dear God, I’m 55 years old and I still feel like such a kid. I don’t know how old Solomon is here, but he identifies himself as being young. He also feels the need for wisdom. But how is he defining wisdom? How do I define wisdom?

It’s hard to know what to pray for in Solomon’s situation. But are any of us really in a different situation that Solomon was? Sure, I’m no king, but I have a life you’ve out into my stewardship. What will I do with it? What should I ask you for?

I think the big thing is that what I really want is to know that I’ll become more and more like you and that I will be the man you want me to be, keeping from sinning and never missing the opportunities you give me. But you can’t give me that without me working it out with you. It takes my submission. It takes my devotion. It takes my self-discipline to make myself your disciple.

Father, I don’t want anything from you for the future. I just want the strength in this moment to be with you. I just want to know you. I just want to be the way Jesus taught me to be. I just want the fruit of your Spirit and I know the way to get there is to be here with you. So here I am. I love and worship you. Thank you.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen