Emails to God

14 Now the weight of gold which came in to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold, 15 besides that from the traders and the wares of the merchants and all the kings of the Arabs and the governors of the country. 16 King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold, using 600 shekels of gold on each large shield. 17 He made 300 shields of beaten gold, using three minas of gold on each shield, and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. 18 Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with refined gold. 19 There were six steps to the throne and a round top to the throne at its rear, and arms on each side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the arms. 20 Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps on the one side and on the other; nothing like it was made for any other kingdom. 21 All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None was of silver; it was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon. 22 For the king had at sea the ships of Tarshish with the ships of Hiram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks.

23 So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. 24 All the earth was seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom which God had put in his heart. 25 They brought every man his gift, articles of silver and gold, garments, weapons, spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year.

26 Now Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen; and he had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, and he stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. 27 The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees that are in the lowland. 28 Also Solomon’s import of horses was from Egypt and Kue, and the king’s merchants procured them from Kue for a price. 29 A chariot was imported from Egypt for 600 shekels of silver, and a horse for 150; and by the same means they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of the Arameans.
1 Kings 10:14-29

Dear God, but how would he have done if he were coaching Kansas State? You know I’m a college football fan and I can’t help but think about a parallel with this story and college football. Nick Saban is largely considered to be the best college football coach, but his last three college coaching jobs have been at Michigan State, LSU, and Alabama. Major schools with resources.

Bill Snyder, on the other hand, took over what was literally considered to be the worst program in the NCAA in the late 80’s and turned it into a consistent winner. True, he never achieved the success that Saban has achieved, but could Saban have done any better at Kansas State than Snyder did? Would he have even tried?

I say all of this because I really do wonder what kind of king Solomon would have been if he had been given the job under Saul’s conditions. Or even his fathers. What kind of a judge would he have been? Would he have been equally great for those times, but the results wouldn’t have shown up in the box score, so to speak, like they do for him after he inherited a strong kingdom from his father, David? Was he a Bill Snyder happened to be handed an Alabama?

One temptation we all have is we look on the outside and make our judgments based on what we see with our eyes. I am given a lot of credit for the organization that I currently run, but the truth is that I am here today because of the years and years of sacrifice that the founding director and countless others gave to make this place possible. I haven’t volunteered one hour for this organization. I have always been paid. Sure, I’ll work outside of my assigned 40 hours, but it’s not the same as the years of sacrifice that a lot of other people have given.

So my job now is to be the best steward I can be of this work that I can be, and I need to do it under your leadership. I’m not comparing myself with Solomon in wisdom, stature, or anything like that, but I am, on a much smaller scale, the beneficiary of a lot of hard work from a lot of people. The best thing I can do it remain faithful to you throughout the process and submit all of this to you. Then I can ask for your blessing for the benefit of those we serve. I’m sorry for ever taking any glory for any of this. It’s not my intention, but sometimes my insecurity gets in the way. This work is all yours. Help me to be your man through it.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

Three times each year Solomon presented burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar he had built for the Lord. He also burned incense to the Lord. And so he finished the work of building the Temple.
1 Kings 9:25

Dear God, now that I’ve finished going through these first few years of Solomon’s reign (okay, 20 years), it’s going to be interesting to see how things morph for the rest of his life. In this passage, he is disciplining himself and being careful to still bring you offerings to the Temple. That’s good. But sometimes, disciplining myself to go through the motions of discipleship without bringing my heart along and into the proper place is meaningless.

This certainly happens to me. Even in spending this time in scripture and doing these prayer journals, I can sometimes be mechanical about it and not bring my heart into the right place. Using Solomon in this story as an example, was he burning the sacrifices to you out of homage, or was he truly repenting of his sin before you as he did the sacrifices? I suspect that there might have been some repentance sometimes, but I would imagine that, for the most part, this was a duty he was performing and not a submission or resubmission to you.

Father, help me to–each time I come to you in prayer–to bring my heart with me and search it. Help me to seek you and submit to you. Help me to repent. Help me to love. Help me to give. Help me to do the work you have for me. Help me to go when you say, “Go,” and wait when you say, “Wait.” And help me to model this for others.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

So Solomon finished building the Temple of the Lord, as well as the royal palace. He completed everything he had planned to do. Then the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had done before at Gibeon. The Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your petition. I have set this Temple apart to be holy—this place you have built where my name will be honored forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart. “As for you, if you will follow me with integrity and godliness, as David your father did, obeying all my commands, decrees, and regulations, then I will establish the throne of your dynasty over Israel forever. For I made this promise to your father, David: ‘One of your descendants will always sit on the throne of Israel.’ “But if you or your descendants abandon me and disobey the commands and decrees I have given you, and if you serve and worship other gods, then I will uproot Israel from this land that I have given them. I will reject this Temple that I have made holy to honor my name. I will make Israel an object of mockery and ridicule among the nations. And though this Temple is impressive now, all who pass by will be appalled and will gasp in horror. They will ask, ‘Why did the Lord do such terrible things to this land and to this Temple?’ “And the answer will be, ‘Because his people abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and they worshiped other gods instead and bowed down to them. That is why the Lord has brought all these disasters on them.’”
1 Kings 9:1-9

Dear God, why is it so hard to have children that follow in the parents’ spiritual footsteps? Perhaps it’s just the law of averages and it makes sense that it’s not a great percentage of parents who are devout followers of you have children who are as devout. David didn’t Solomon didn’t. Going back, Adam had Cain. Isaac had Jacob (scoundrel). Eli had his sons. Samuel had his sons.

I was at a Promise Keepers conference at the old Texas Stadium in Irving back in 1995 and I remember a guy giving an illustration. He had three chairs on the stage and he compared the first chair with the devout follower and worshiper of you. The second chair was for the person who is kind of a follower of you, and the third chair represented someone who didn’t follow you at all. He said that it is rare for a man in the first chair to have a son that sits in the first chair as well. Normally, that son sits in the second chair. Then that son’s son will likely end up sitting in the third chair. Why is it?

Maybe it’s because we can show our children what it looks like to have a life devoted to following you, but our decision to follow you only came after we had come to the end of ourselves. In the case of Solomon, how do you get the son of a king to come to the end of himself? In my case, I cannot do it for my Holstein. It has to happen for them.

I received a written prayer request at work today from a woman with a 20-year-old son. She is worried about him. She thinks he is isolated and depressed (which he probably is). I wrote to her telling her I would pray for her and her son. I’ll make my prayer for my own children and my wife and me my pray for this woman and her son as well.

Father, you know each of us. You have known us since before we were born. You have not only known me, but you have known my children too. You know them better than I know them. I know you have this thing about not overriding our free will, so I would never ask for that, but I will ask that you ordain a path for them to live the lives and become the people you want them to be. Help them to discover you in a new way. For those that are followers of you, help them to be completely washed in the Holy Spirit and guide them through the Spirit. Love them richly. Give them good soil in their hearts, and plant seeds that will grow. And for those who are still battling with the idea of submitting to you, give them a glimpse of just how good it feels to let go of the pain that is killing them and to cling to you. Help them to lay down their own burden and take up their cross and follow you. Use us as parents however you will, and use all of these situations to draw us closer to you as well.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

When Solomon finished making these prayers and petitions to the Lord, he stood up in front of the altar of the Lord , where he had been kneeling with his hands raised toward heaven. He stood and in a loud voice blessed the entire congregation of Israel: “Praise the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the wonderful promises he gave through his servant Moses. May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us or abandon us. May he give us the desire to do his will in everything and to obey all the commands, decrees, and regulations that he gave our ancestors. And may these words that I have prayed in the presence of the Lord be before him constantly, day and night, so that the Lord our God may give justice to me and to his people Israel, according to each day’s needs. Then people all over the earth will know that the Lord alone is God and there is no other. And may you be completely faithful to the Lord our God. May you always obey his decrees and commands, just as you are doing today.” Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices to the Lord. Solomon offered to the Lord a peace offering of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep and goats. And so the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the Temple of the Lord. That same day the king consecrated the central area of the courtyard in front of the Lord’s Temple. He offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of peace offerings there, because the bronze altar in the Lord ’s presence was too small to hold all the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings. Then Solomon and all Israel celebrated the Festival of Shelters in the presence of the Lord our God. A large congregation had gathered from as far away as Lebo-hamath in the north and the Brook of Egypt in the south. The celebration went on for fourteen days in all—seven days for the dedication of the altar and seven days for the Festival of Shelters. After the festival was over, Solomon sent the people home. They blessed the king and went to their homes joyful and glad because the Lord had been good to his servant David and to his people Israel.
1 Kings 8:54-66

Dear God, okay, that was a bit of a diversion with “No Insult Like The Truth.” Now, it’s time to get back to looking at Solomon.

I think the thing that I think of most when I think of this speech to the Israelites this line: “And may you be completely faithful to the Lord our God.” If only we could live up to that line. If only I could be completely faithful to you. If only my family could be completely faithful to you. If only our church could be completely faithful to you. Our community. Our nation. Our world. What would that world look like? I guess that will be what heaven is like one day. Until then, it starts with me.

As we see more of Solomon’s story, we are going to see that even he was not capable of being completely faithful to you. Why is it so hard? Keeping your commands and decrees is good for me and to my benefit. Why do I fail to do it? I suppose that’s where my sin nature comes in. I start wanting to have immediate gratification instead of either 1.) delaying it or 2.) accepting that a particular gratification might never be mine to have.

Father, I’m sorry. I really am. Help me to see clearly which desires of my heart are not of you. Help me to accept the path you have for me to walk regardless of how much “happiness” it does or doesn’t bring me. Help me to discipline myself into being your servant. Help me to worship you like you deserve. Help me to be your ambassador to those around me.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen