[AI translation] I feel that now, after the celebrations in our parish, this great prayer of Solomon would be most fitting in our mouths, or rather in our hearts. For we have not arrived somewhere, some high point, some destination, from which we should now only look back and gaze away on a road full of blessings, but all that we have had so far, all the twenty years behind us, is a great encouragement and an urge to go on, as one of our preachers said: towards the second mile. Let us not feel ourselves resting after a job well done, but preparing ourselves for a much greater task - that is why Solomon's prayer is so timely. He too, facing a very big and responsible task ahead, turned to God with his prayer. We read in verse 10, "It shall please..." - It is worth looking at this prayer in more detail, because it is a prayer that pleases the Lord. I would not dare to say in all my prayers that this is the right prayer, that it pleases God. Think about your prayer this morning: do you think that what you asked for really pleased the Lord? - Well, here we see what kind of prayer pleases the Lord, what pleases Him.What a great privilege prayer is, we all know, I am sure. What a majestically great thing it is when God says to someone, "Ask what you will, that I may give it to you." This unheard-of privilege which God here bestows on a king, He extended to followers of Jesus of all ranks and rank when He said, "If ye shall ask anything in my name of the Father, it shall be granted you." So we are all privileged like this king of the East, whom God drew before Him and said to Him, "Ask! What shall I give you? Do we know about this privilege? Do we dare to avail ourselves of this great privilege? Do we even believe that God is right here in front of us, his hands full of everything, and he says: Ask what you will, and I will give it to you. Can we really take God at his word? To believe - I think it is nothing else than to dare to take the Lord at His word, to dare to lay down our life, our everything, on what He has said. This great royal privilege is offered to us again here today. But perhaps we would be confused if we really believed: what is the most necessary thing? What should we ask for? Do we even know what we need? - That is why the content of this prayer is important here. It would also be interesting to talk about what our prayers are about, what we engage God with in our prayers, what we involve God in. But now it is more instructive to look at what Solomon's prayer was like. What was it that pleased the Lord?
There is an introductory part to this prayer, and it is quite long. The actual request is then quite short. The introductory part is like a rush, like the rush of a long jump. This run-up is much longer than the jump itself, but it is important and necessary. What Solomon is doing here is not a superfluous multiplication of words either. First of all, he is saying what God has done. He thanks God for the grace He has shown to his father David, and he thanks God that he himself is now on the throne because of it. Such a recollection of God's mercy always encourages one to continue to pray. It gives wings to prayer. If you do not feel like or have the courage to ask God for something, think first of the mighty works He has done for you in the past. Start at the birth and death of Christ on the cross - He did that with you, too; or start at the point where you first heard the call of Jesus in your heart, and continue this recollection, this revisiting of the past until you can thankfully face your present situation. I myself have found that remembering God's faithfulness to me and His actions in guiding my life in gratitude draws me back into the flow of His grace, into the stream of His story. So this was part of that particular 'run' in Solomon's prayer: the grateful recollection of events in which God's mercy was made manifest.
But there is another part of this preparation, this rush. In it, Solomon thinks of the immense tasks that await him as king and then among the people of God. Not only is this a great people that he will have to govern, but they are God's people, the Lord's chosen people, so he must have a special plan for them. Solomon is frightened by the magnitude of the task before him and by his own person's utter unfitness to undertake such a task. Oh, he does not know how to undertake such an enormous task! This compels him to beg.
He who, even now, among us, truly rightly sees the task which he, as a child of God, must perform among men, has nothing left but very humble supplication. For God has a specific task in mind for each one of us among men, He has entrusted to each one of us a very special work - and often we do not even know what to do with ourselves, let alone with our task! And now imagine: God offers: let us ask what we want, that He may give us. Can such an offer go unused?
So, once again, the introductory part of Solomon's prayer, the rush, consists in remembering God's deeds on the one hand, and remembering his commission from God on the other. Once he really begins to pray, he always sees himself in this double setting: as surrounded by God with great power and love on the one hand, and as always wanting to be used as an instrument for new and new services on the other. Is this not also how we see the life of our congregation at the end of the last twenty years: you have been gracious to us, our God, in the past - you expect much more from us, our God, in the future! The first, looking back, encourages us to dare to ask God for much; the second, looking forward to the future, compels us to dare to ask God for much. One encourages us to ask, the other urges us to ask! And into this comes the Lord's offer: ask! What shall I give you? Do you see how good it is that what you need is free?!
And now, after the long preparation, after the long run, comes the actual request, the very short single request. It is: "Give your servant a heart of understanding!" That is the whole request. He asks for a heart of understanding! What does it mean? The synonyms of the Hebrew word used here bring us closer to understanding. One is: a listening heart. That is, a heart that hears the word of God. Solomon wants to hear what God says not only with his ears, but also with his heart. What a difference! You can hear with your ears - or with your heart. How many sermons have you heard here in this church! In the exhibition we saw that in the last twenty years 208 pastors have preached the Word, 208 different instrumentations, accents, manners, and soul-searching ways of speaking the same Word. How much of this have you heard with your heart? As much as has come to life in you! Someone said the other day: there are three kinds of Christians. A mouth-Christian who only speaks about it; a head-Christian who only meditates on it; and a heart-Christian whose heartbeat, whose whole life is driven, animated, pulsating by Christ! Well, Solomon asked for something like that. He wants to hear God with his heart and draw a conclusion from it. The other synonym is obedient. So it is precisely that he is asking for a heart that is totally attuned to God's word, that is totally surrendered to God, that is submitted to God's plans and purposes. This heart wants to "hear" so that it knows what it must do. Didn't ask for little things, did Solomon?
If a person wants to become and remain a child of God, that is what he really needs: an understanding heart, a listening heart, an obedient heart! Without it, one is overwhelmed by the list of duties, by the expectations of others, by the enormous task that God puts on us! We are overwhelmed by fear of our own weakness, our own inadequacy. Only the listening heart, the obedient heart, the understanding heart, can save us from this terrible oppression. If only we had such an intelligent heart! But we do not. But we can ask God for one! For, you see, this is the very request that pleases God. And I believe that we will not get any further, we will just be stagnating in one place, until this is the most important request we can make of God: "Give me, Lord, a heart of understanding!
It pleased God that Solomon did not ask for long life. This prayer would sound very modern: "Give me more time! Because in general, modern man is always short of time. He has no time for what he really needs. Give me time - this is the cry for help of modern man. But that is not what we need, what we really need is what Solomon asked for: a heart that understands, a heart that listens, a heart that spends its days and hours in obedience to God. God never gives two assignments to one person at the same time: He only gives us one assignment for each hour. The listening heart, therefore, does not rush, does not tear itself to pieces, does not chase itself in a senseless rush: it obeys calmly. We have no time because we have no intelligent heart! God is waiting for people who, freed from the time rush, maintain a conscious relationship with him.
Then it also pleased God in Solomon's prayer that he did not ask for riches. Yet even a request that begs for greater material opportunity would sound very modern. We often think that we cannot be a suitable means because we do not have a secure financial base. How much more I could give if I had more money!... And here too I believe that what is needed is not greater security of our material existence, but yes: a sensible heart that makes grateful use of the opportunities we have. It is never the lack of a higher standard of living that makes a person suffer - that is an externality - but it is his inner attitude towards his existing standard of living that determines whether he suffers from it or is happy with it. Someone said so beautifully the other day in a quiet evening conversation that since he learned to live inwardly, he has been happy. Because the world is just as infinite inwardly, and just as beautiful as it is outwardly, and even more beautiful and infinite. It's not true that only the Riviera is beautiful, and that those who don't get there are unhappy. God had no less a plan for poor Lazarus than for the rich And if our hearts hear God, then in the less good way a man is not miserable, but his life is full. God is waiting for people today who, freed from the spell of Mammon, will count His Word and fellowship with Him their greatest riches.
And it pleased God that Solomon did not seek victory over his enemies. Yet it would also sound very modern to plead for greater abilities, for superiority over other men. That is not what we need, but a listening heart that fills the place God has given us in obedience. What you need is not greater power and influence among men, but deeper obedience to God. God is waiting for men today who, coming down from the heights of pride and free from the depths of inferiority, will give themselves as instruments to Him as they are.
So, to sum up very briefly, this is Solomon's request: Lord, give me a heart of understanding that recognizes and carries out Thy willful duty to Thy fellow-men! I ask this for myself every day. I offer it to you too! Such prayer, if sincere, is always answered by the Lord. For Solomon and for us. The Lord Himself makes sure that a truly listening heart understands something of God's specific will every day, receives something. Of course, praying for a listening heart can only be praying over an open Bible. Praying for a listening heart is real when it waits for God to speak.
One more thing: Solomon, when he finishes his prayer, does two things: he offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God and he provides a great feast for all his servants. All true prayer that has heard God's answer will result in these two things: renewed gratitude and renewed love. Our sacrifice of thanksgiving is to lay down our burdens, our sins, our fears, and go out to people cleansed, freed from pressure, impulse, suffering. The person who has just come from prayer is a good person to be around! For that person still brings something of the atmosphere he has breathed in his prayer, of the light, of the closeness to God in which he has been drawn by his prayer. Now it comes from God. The one who has truly prayed has more love for people, more understanding, more patience, more service - more Christian, more human! The one who truly prays, after the amen, his life continues to pray in his actions.
Would that God's Holy Spirit would make Solomon's prayer the personal prayer of each of us every day!
Amen.
Date: 16 February 1958.