I WISH I HAD ASKED FOR THAT

2 CHRONICLES 1:7-12

 

Pastor Rick Jackson

 

I DISLIKE ORDERING FIRST IN SOME RESTAURANTS. Sometimes I get to looking at what someone else ordered and think, “I wish I had asked for that.” This account is one of those “I wish I had said that” kind of things. It was a great request by Solomon but why was it a great request? What was the basis for the request, I mean, how did Solomon know to make that request? And if you know the story of Solomon he did not end up as well as he started and his son blew it even worse, to coin a phrase, “What’s up with that?!” The answers my friends are not blowing in the wind but they are available in the Word of God.

 

I. THE GREATNESS OF THE REQUEST [v. 7-12]

 

1. Shown by His Recognition of God’s Working [v. 7-8]

 

2. Shown by His Reliance on God’s Word [v. 9]

 

3. Shown by His Realization of God’s Absolute Necessity [v. 10-12]

 

Is this not what Jesus was teaching in John 15:1-7?

 

1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing .

6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

 

II. THE BASIS OF THE REQUEST [Pr. 4]

 

The Teachings of King David

 

1. Live It [v. 1-4]

 

2. Long For It [v. 5]

 

3. Love It [v. 6-7]

 

III. THE DEFILEMENT OF THE REQUEST [Pr. 4:20-27]

 

Solomon wisely asked for wisdom and then foolishly did not follow it. Consequently, his son Rehoboam did not live wisely. Consider:

 

1. Solomon Loved the Wrong People [1 Kings 11:1-4]

 

2. Solomon Lived the Wrong Lifestyle [1 Kings 11:5-6]

 

3. Solomon Leaned on the Wrong Understanding [1 Kings 11:7-11, Pr. 3:5-7]

 

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.