Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the first book of Kings, chapter
3, and reading from our text, verse 5. In Gibeon, the Lord
appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, Ask what
I shall give thee. 1 Kings chapter 3 and verse sorry,
chapter three and verse five, and it is particularly the last
clause, what the Lord said, what God said to Solomon in the dream,
ask what I shall give thee. We are not told the exact time
when this occurred, We read in the beginning of this chapter
how that Solomon had married Pharaoh's daughter, brought her
to the city of David, till he had made an end of building his
own house and the house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem
rounded about. And that summary, I believe,
goes right past this time of the dream and it's going back
now to the beginning of his reign because it was some 13-20 years
after the beginning of his reign that he completed those things
in that summary and also because he was at Gibeon and not at Jerusalem
if the Lord's house had been built he would have been there,
the ark would have been in the temple. But it was in the tent
that David had made for him. It was a unique time, as it were,
a time that really pointed to gospel days, when instead of
the two parts of the temple, there was just a tent that the
ark was put in. And it rested there in Jerusalem
until the temple was built after the same pattern as the tabernacle
of the wilderness. And it was then brought into
the holiest place. And of course, in these gospel
days, the veil of the temple is rent in twain. The Ark is,
as it were, the Lord Jesus Christ, the great antitype of the Ark,
is clearly set before us, they're clearly preached, there's no
veil, there's no hiding. And so in that time where Solomon
came before him, it was in the time before the temple was built. And I believe from the very asking,
and everything is right at the very beginning of his reign,
he felt his youth, He felt his need of wisdom and the Lord was
pleased to come in a dream asking him and telling him to ask what
he would, ask what I shall give thee. And we read there how David
asked for wisdom and understanding. Solomon said, Thou hast shown
unto thy servant David, my father, great mercy, according as he
walked before thee in truth and in righteousness, and in uprightness
of heart with thee. And thou hast kept for him this
great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his
throne as it is this day. And now, O Lord my God, Thou
hast made thy servant king instead of David my father, and I am
but a little child, I know not how to go out or come in. And
thy servant is in the midst of thy people, which thou hast chosen,
a great people that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. Give therefore thy servant an
understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern
between good and bad. for who is able to judge this
thy so great a people? That was Solomon's answer to
the Lord when he said, ask what I shall give thee. We read how
that pleased the Lord, and he not only gave him what he'd asked,
but he gave him those things that he hadn't asked. and he
gave him not only the wise and understanding heart but also
riches, honour, so that there shall not be any among the kings
like unto thee all thy days." There's a good lesson in what
Solomon did because he didn't immediately answer the Lord in
asking but he rehearsed before the Lord the situation that he
was in. He was very mindful and conscious
of all that had gone before and the position that he was in. Really he gave before the Lord
all the reasons why he needed that specific gift of wisdom
and an understanding heart. And it's good for us, before
we ask of the Lord things, to run before us, if not before
the Lord, why is it that we are asking these things? If the Lord
were to turn round and say to us, you've asked me this, but
why have you asked me that? It's a good thing to follow this
pattern here, to rehearse before the Lord, the lead up to the
asking, as to why it is that we are asking. Now this evening,
what is upon my spirit here is this word, ask what I shall give
thee. In other words, coming before
the Lord in prayer and asking. not coming before the Lord. And
it's quite right that we should. There are those times we come
before the Lord and ask the Lord to do things, do things for us,
appear for us in providence or in grace. But what is specific
here is asking the Lord to give. Well, we might say, well, the
Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream and he He said to him, ask what
I shall give thee, but he hasn't appeared to me in a dream. He
hasn't appeared to me and asked me, am I able to come before
him in prayer? Is it right that I should do
this? Can we apply what we read here
to our own personal cases? Yes, we most certainly can, and
if only to look into the New Testament, into what our Lord
Himself has said. If we were to turn to the Gospel
according to John and chapter 15 and verse 16. And the Lord says there, you
have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that
you should go and bring forth fruit, that your fruit should
remain. that whatsoever ye shall ask
of the Father in my name, he may give it you. Whatsoever ye
shall ask of the Father in my name. If we were to go to the
Gospel according to Matthew and chapter 21 and verse 22, We read, and all things whatsoever
ye ask, ye shall ask in prayer. So here's the emphasis. This
is in the attitude of prayer. Believing ye shall receive. What an encouragement that we
are to ask of the Lord. But then there are cautions and
One way of avoiding this is to do what Solomon did in telling
the Lord why he was to ask what he did ask. But in the epistle,
according to James, we read of asking a miss, and there's a
word of reproof in chapter four. ye lust, and have not, ye kill,
and desire to have, and cannot obtain, ye fight, and war, yet
ye have not, because ye ask not. So they are first reproved for
not asking, then ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss,
that ye may consume it upon your lusts. So we can ask for things
that we're really wanting just to please ourselves, just to
lift up our pride, to give us a life of ease, to exalt ourselves
above the brethren. And that's why if we follow the
pattern that Solomon did of actually in prayer going over why we are
asking, it'd be a hard thing, wouldn't it? to say, Lord, I'd
like a good house because I want to appear more wealthy and better
off than my neighbor. And I want to get one over them. And I'd like a good job and a lot
of money because I want to go on long overseas holidays. Therefore, that's why I'm asking
for a good job and a lot of money. Really, surely, if we are rehearsing
things like that, then we should know from the word the things
we're asking are amiss. We're just using them for ourselves. It's not for the benefit of others.
It's not for the honor and glory of God. It's not for the good
of our souls. It's worldly things. It's temporal
things. It's things of the flesh and
not things of the spirit. So we do need to be careful in
what we actually ask for. I want to then look at three
points this evening. Firstly, asking God to give us
personally. So, coming before the Lord and
asking. And then secondly, some things
to be asked to be given. Just look at some of those places
in the scriptures, those very clear pointers into what is acceptable
and right to ask of the Lord. And then thirdly, the proof of
that which is given. And thinking there especially
of the providence that followed with Solomon and how it was so
proved that he had been given that wisdom that he'd asked. But firstly, asking God to give
us personally. We are told again, if we were
to go back to the epistle of James, and in chapter 1, verse
17, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and
cometh down from the Father of lights with whom is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning. We're coming before him who is
able to give. This is not asking for things
that we might buy, that we might earn, but that is actually given
to us. I wonder how many times we've actually
gone before the Lord and we've asked things. Sometimes we might
hear those in public prayer. And yes, it's right in public
prayer to have that adoration, exalting of God. But prayer should not be just
all telling God about things, but asking, supplicating, coming
before him like the Syrophoenician woman who worshipped him, saying,
Lord, help me. And of course, that was for her
daughter. But is there not those things
that we are wanting for ourselves that we need? And I believe if
we come asking, we'll be mindful of two things. will be mindful
firstly of the God before whom we come and the reason why he
can give. And especially when we're seeking
spiritual gifts, that he does have those. If we were in a natural
sense to come before someone and ask them things, and they
turn around to us and said, why are you asking me? You know full
well I don't have them. or I don't have power to give
that to you. And so when we ask of God, it
is believing that He has these things, that He is able to give
them and give them justly and righteously to us who are asking. So first there is an apprehension
of God Himself, and of course that will lead us as well to
Calvary, to those gifts that are purchased there. We, in ourselves,
as lost and ruined in the fall, deserve nothing, and it would
be unjust for God to give us things or to show us mercy, but
it is the key to it in what the Lord has done at Calvary. We would remember that the very
coming of His Son, the very gift of His Son, The greatest gift
that ever could be given, given to this world, is an evidence
of the love of God. God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. It was said of Solomon, said
of Abraham, sorry, that God that he had not withheld his son,
his only son, from me. And really it's a beautiful time
of the father not withholding his son but giving him and offering
him up for us all. So in coming and asking for ourselves
first a mindfulness of God, he that cometh to God, must believe
that He is, that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
Him, and then it's a mindfulness of ourselves, how unworthy we
are, how unfit to receive anything from the Lord at all, and also
in relation to what we're going to ask, just like Solomon, thinking
of what we need, what we are lacking that God has to give. that we don't come in prayer
just like the Pharisee telling God all about ourselves and what
we've done and what we've got and nothing that we're asking
of Him at all. We are full in our own eyes and
we have no need of the Lord. Our God is honoured in giving
to His people and He's honoured really when His people rehearse
before Him exactly why they need these gifts and these blessings. And I would encourage you, encourage
myself, that in our prayers there is very clearly this asking element. And that we do like Solomon,
so it is not just asking, but when we're thinking of what we
need, that we also bring that as part of our prayer before
the Lord as to why we need that gift from Himself. And so that will be a profession,
like Solomon, that he did not have that wisdom, that understanding. He was but, as a little child,
he did not know how to come in and to go out before the people
He confessed his ignorance, he confessed his need of this. Imagine if someone came seeking
for some money and for some help and the person that they were
seeking it from turned around and said, but I happen to know
that you have got a great big bank balance. In fact, you've
probably got more money in the bank than I have. Why are you
coming to me? Well, that person couldn't come
and say, Please can you give me some money because I'm bankrupt,
I've got no money, I've got nothing at all and this is the reason
why I need this provision. They would be lying to say that.
And so with Solomon, his professing, his emptiness, his need, his
need of this gift from the Lord. May that be a help to us because
sometimes Satan can excuse us being so poor, so worldly, so
carnal, so base, so sinful, so vile, so unfit, and we can take
those very things, the very emptiness that we have, and use them as
a basis and as part of our prayer leading up to what we then ask
of the Lord. Many times I've been reproved
by the Lord in just a silent word upon my spirit, when I've
been angry with him because I haven't got things or lacking that which
he has promised to give, and he's just quietly said, you have
not asked. And it's good for us to remember
to actually ask. In Ezekiel chapter 36, We read
some beautiful things there, what the Lord will do for his
people, cleansing their hearts, giving them a new heart and a
new spirit. And at the end of that chapter,
we read this, I will be inquired of by the house of Israel to
do it for them. In that case, it is to do something. And what I'm emphasizing tonight
is that the Lord gives us something. And of course, in that chapter,
it is giving a softened heart, a giving a renewed heart. There is a difference between
what the Lord does for a people and what the Lord gives to a
people. There is in a natural sense,
isn't it? If we had some work to be done
on a house, And we had a good friend that was very wealthy,
and we asked them, could they give us some money to be able
to do that work? And they said, yes, here is the
money. And then you say, but I don't know how to do it myself,
and I need the work done. So you've got another friend,
but they haven't got the money at all, but they've got the skill
and the ability. So for them, they do the work. And so there's a difference between
giving and doing. The Lord does both. He does for
His people. He does work for them. He does
appear for them. He does move in providence. He
does more than we can ask or think. But He also gives, imparts
to His people what He has. and they do not have. It's time to look then secondly
at some of those things that are to be asked for. Our Lord in speaking to his disciples,
he says to them and charges them, give to everyone that asketh. Now if the Lord charges us to
do that, to those that are asking of us, how much more will He
give to His people that ask Him? So there's a real encouragement
to ask and we have a very strong warrant to come even without
the Lord appearing in a dream. We have the warrant of the Word
of God to come before Him in prayer. and to ask. May this be a timely word for
some tonight, that they go from the service tonight and that
they ask. Ask the Lord. Well the first
one I'll mention is life. The Lord said to those in his
day, he will not come unto me that he might have life. And the Lord is he that does
give life, eternal life, to his people. We read this in John
17, As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And the
greatest thing that we do not have, and really in a way it's
a sign that we do have it when we feel our lack of it, but to
acknowledge that in ourselves we have no life, we have no light,
we have no power, and we need that life. Sometimes we feel
so carnal, so dead, so lifeless, so far off, so worldly, and have
to come before the Lord and confess that we do not feel that spiritual
life in our soul. We do not feel that life even
in the prayer as we're coming before God in prayer, nor the
life as we're reading the Word of God. And ask the Lord, Lord,
give me life. Give me divine life. Give me
spiritual life. Give me life in my soul, because
how can I live at this poor dying reign? How can I have the enjoyment
of communion and fellowship with Thee without the life of God
in my soul? To who else can we go for life? Can we look for it for ourselves,
or the brethren, or just to improve on the means ourselves? That
life must come. from the Lord. Now the Lord tells
that in John 15 in the parable of the Sower. So may that be
one thing that we specifically ask of the Lord, spiritual life,
eternal life, life in our souls. Then we have, there's two portions
that I believe is probably the same but it's in two Gospels and it's
rendered in different ways. In Matthew chapter 7, and we
have the Lord encouraging to ask. In verse 7, ask and it shall
be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened
unto you. And there's a reminder there
that there are sometimes that as we ask, there's a means used
that the Lord gives. We ask, and I often think this,
in seeking a text and seeking a subject to bring before you,
ask for a text, and then seek for a text in the word of God,
and when that text is given, knock, asking again to have that
opened up to me. Often I think of this word. Ask and it shall be given you.
Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened
unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth. What an encouragement that subject
tonight to ask. And he that seeketh findeth,
and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. And then a further
encouragement in asking. What man is there of you? Whom
if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask
a fish, will he give him a serpent? Then the Lord says this, If ye
then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good
things to them that ask him? So here is something to ask for. things. May the Lord give us
discernment to think, is this a good thing? Is it a God-glorifying
thing? Is it something, if the Lord
gave it to us, we'd say to our brethren, we might say it in
a testimony in the church, I prayed unto God for this thing and he
has given it to me. You know, Hannah, she asked a
child, didn't she? She came later to Eli and said,
for this child I prayed, and the Lord hath given me my petition
that I asked of him. And so that was a good thing
that could be fully rehearsed before others as a good thing. I know there are things that
are close, they're private, they're heart things that we may ask
the Lord to do for us that are kept close to us. But mostly
the test would be if there is a good thing that must be good
in the eyes of the Lord and in the eyes of His people, good
according to the Word of God. Then we have a parallel passage
in Luke where we have not good things but the Holy Spirit. In Luke chapter 11 and in verse
13, just going to the last part of the same account, if you then
being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, How
much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to
them that ask Him? You might say, well, how can
it be that we ask the Holy Spirit? Because if our prayers are right,
they're led by the Spirit, but here's a real encouragement to
ask for the Holy Spirit. We know our Lord said that He
would pray His Father and he would give the spirit, he would
send the comforter to them, and he did at the day of Pentecost. But we are also, and I trust
we do in nearly every service, as we open the service, as we
come before in public prayer, anticipating the preaching of
the word, we're asking for the spirit because in Thessalonians,
we read that the Word came not in word only, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power. And sometimes we remind the Lord
how the apostles had to wait for the Spirit, how needful,
how vital. And many of us know we feel what
it is when we feel without the Spirit and the Word is dry. And the application is not there,
it leaves us unmoved. But how different when like the
two on the way to Emmaus, their heart burned within them. The
Lord said to the woman at the well of Samaria that he seeketh
those to worship him in spirit and in truth. And when we're
coming into the Lord's house to worship, it's a good thing
to be mindful of that, to want to be in the spirit, on the Lord's
day if it is the Lord's day like we meet in the midweek this evening
but we need the Holy Spirit and this this verse is a very good
verse to remember that we are to ask the Holy Spirit and maybe
be encouraged to to go away and to put that into into practice
ask the Holy the Spirit of God. If ye then being evil, how much
more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them
that ask Him? It's a reminder isn't it that
God is honoured in asking. I often like to remind ourselves
that the whole aim of salvation is to bring a people to the Lord. It is like Joseph who kept bringing
his brethren back again, gave them always something so that
they came back. The Lord wants to have and will
have that fellowship and union with his people and mostly that
is in prayer and in those things he's glorified to do for them. And so may we think of this asking
of the Holy Spirit. The fourth one is our daily bread. Part of the Lord's Prayer, give
us this day our daily bread, Luke 11 verse 3. In John chapter
6, the Lord says that he is the living bread, the meat that I
shall give is my flesh. except ye eat my flesh and drink
my blood, ye have no life in you. And man shall not live by
bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth
of God. And so that is something we are
to ask of the Lord, that living bread. Ask to be fed for that. You know, if we were someone
that was poor or didn't have any food, we would then ask people
for food. We would testify our need of
it. And we do need spiritual food. We do need food regularly for
our natural bodies. We need food for our spiritual
bodies. How many times before the worship
service do we ask the Lord, Give me food for my soul during this
sermon, during this worship time. Give me to glean from thy word. Give me some handfuls of purpose. We read that he openeth his hand,
he satisfieth the desire of every living thing, he feeds the sparrows,
he feeds the birds of the air, How much more shall he feed you,
O ye of little faith? But especially in spiritual things,
we are to ask for that bread that comes down from heaven.
It doesn't mean to say that we won't have those times. We ask
for temporal bread and temporal provision and temporal things. The Lord knows we have need of
them. But it is especially in a spiritual
way the Lord is honoured. where there is a hungering and
thirsting after righteousness and a asking for spiritual food. Then we have what Peter in his
epistles, and of course remember Peter was charged, feed my sheep,
feed my land, but he also says in the first epistle in chapter
5. And remember Peter was told to
strengthen, when they are converted, strengthen thy brethren. And
one of the ways of strengthening the brethren is to be the means
of grace, that grace be given. Remember when the apostle Paul
had the thorn in the flesh, My grace is sufficient for thee. And then we read, he giveth more
grace and grace for grace. And so Peter says here, God resisteth
the proud and giveth grace unto the humble. Grace is a vital
thing, the free, unmerited favor of God. By grace ye are saved
through faith, that not of yourselves, It is the gift of God. And maybe then, having the examples
of Paul and those things that were given him, ask of the Lord
that he would give us that grace to enable us to bear our trials,
to walk before him and before men, and to be what the Lord
would have us to be. The apostle says, by the grace
of God, I am. what I am. Then another thing to ask of
the Lord is rest. In this world, we have so many
things that burden us, that try us. If this is not our rest,
it is polluted. If the Lord has blessed us with
a good hope beyond the grave, we have eternal rest that is
awaiting us. But the Lord has a beautiful
word and it is in the end of Matthew chapter 11. Come unto
me all you that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you
rest. The Lord giving rest to his people. When they're so troubled with
sin, with temptations, when turmoil in their soul, when troubled
Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things.
She couldn't rest, she couldn't sit at the feet of the Lord. She needed that rest. And there
are those times we need that rest as well. And to actually
ask the Lord for it. I've known what it is to go three
days tormented with temptations, with evil thoughts, affections,
and struggles, with my own heart, and with Satan, and then the
Lord to come and give complete rest, to banish it all away,
and there be complete peace and quietness, where there was all
sorts of trouble before, and I've known that more than once,
and that one of those particular times, to ask the Lord why, The
answer was, if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free
indeed. It's a blessed time. But when
we are troubled, then it's good to ask, coming before the Lord,
confessing how we are and all our labours and heavy laden with
this trouble and that trouble and this burden and that burden,
and plead His word that the Lord would give us Rest, sweet to
lie passive in his hand, to know no will but his. To have all
those waves, and you think of how our Lord was in the ship,
and the billows and the waves were like to sink the ship, and
he rose and rebuked the winds and the waves, and there was
a great calm, a rest. Peace be still. It's a blessed
thing to know that and to know that rest in the Lord Jesus Christ
here below. The last thing I bring before
you is what could really have been our first point, because
it is what Solomon asked for. In James chapter one and verse
five, we read, if any of you lack wisdom, Let him ask of God
that giveth to all men liberally, and abrideth not, and it shall
be given him. The very thing that Solomon asked
for, wisdom and understanding, this is what we are exhorted
to ask of the Lord. Then there is a A warning here,
but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth
is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For
let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the
Lord. The double-minded man is unstable
in all his ways. So maybe we have to confess and
say before the Lord, Lord, give me faith. Give me. that I might truly know that
thou hast wisdom to give me. I believe I've proved it many,
many times over the years, especially as a design engineer, many times
at my drawing board and office desk, have I sought the Lord
for wisdom, for help, to know how to make this machine, what
it would look like, how it would be powered, every aspect of it,
and many, many answers to prayer have been given. Our Bible boxes
are another example of many prayers to get a right design, and the
design of those boxes, or the ones out here as yet, they've
gone four and a half years, I think, without even being refurbished.
They haven't been touched up at all. Summer and winter they
have done very, very well, and really thankful to the Lord for
that. Well, I want to come to our last
point, the last main point, and that is the proof of that given. Well, you might say what I've
just said with the Bible boxes, when something is made, you have
the proof over the years that that design was a good design,
the Lord gave it, and it can be seen. Going back to the account
where our text is and to see what the Lord did for Solomon. It's a very hard thing, isn't
it, to see wisdom, to see understanding. To see it in itself, it needs
something. It's like electricity. You can't
see electricity except If you put a light on it, then you can
see the light. Or you put a heater or a fan
or something that is using the electricity, and then it's evident
that it is actually there. If someone were to say, we put
power onto the building, you'd say, well, is it really there? Let's plug something in and try
it. And so then it would be evident.
And so with wisdom, The Lord ordered that there should be
a situation that arose that needed wisdom. And He chose to use two
harlots, the most strange, you might say, example of illustrating
the wisdom that He'd given to Solomon. Women that had been
living immorally and wrong, and they are coming before the King.
And the Lord gives him that simple wisdom, knowing the love that
a mother has to her child, and she'd do anything to fight for
it, to preserve it alive, that wouldn't allow it to be killed. And so when he brought the sword,
when these two harlots were saying the child that was overlaid and
that died in the house there with them, And one was saying
the living was theirs. The other was saying the living
was theirs. And the king had to decide which
of these mothers was the mother of the living child. And so he
had the sword board. Divide the living child and give
it to them both, half to each. Of course, it would have killed
the child. So the mother that was the real mother But she longed
after that child. No, don't kill it. Give it to
her rather than kill it. So Solomon knew, and the other
woman, she did the other way around. Kill it, don't worry
about it. She didn't care for the child.
She didn't care whether it was killed. And so Solomon knew,
decided the case. And when we read that all of
Israel, that they heard the judgment, which the king had judged. And
they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was
in him to do judgment. So there was a proof of that
which is given. We think of the blessings of
eternal life. If the Lord gives life, then
there will be a hearing ear, there will be prayer, there will
be that which is evidence both in that person and to those round
about them, that there is the life of God in that soul. By
things that they say, things that they do, it will be evident. You can't give a person eternal
life and that person just goes on in the ways of the world as
if nothing had happened. The life of God makes a difference,
doesn't leave one as a cake unturned, just unmoved. So again, with
the blessing of the Holy Spirit, that will influence our lives. We read in Romans 8, to be spiritually
minded is life and peace, to be calmly minded is death. There's a big difference between
death and life and peace, isn't there? There's the evidence of
the Holy Spirit being given as asked. What of bread? We think in a natural sense,
if our petition for natural bread was not granted, we'd soon starve,
we'd soon die. We need spiritual bread, constant,
to keep our souls alive. We might not discern what service,
what part of the service, what reading was used to keep our
soul alive. You get to the end of a month
and You can't list any texts that have been blessed to you
or used in any particular way. But that which the word has washed
over you, as you've heard that, that has been keeping your soul
alive. Remember the children of Israel,
they despised the manna. Because it was small, because
it was constantly given, they despised it. And Lord, reprove
them for it. They said this is light bread. We loathe this light bread. Don't
despise the day of small things. Don't despise the blessing through
the word that comes with no fanfare, but carries you from year to
year, still in the way, still fearing the Lord, with these
little helps here and there, line upon line, precept upon
precept, and the soul grows. grow in grace and in the knowledge
of the Lord. There'll be an evidence of it. Paul says, regarding himself,
when he came to the apostles, those that he perceived were
pillars, he said they received the grace of God that was with
me. They could see how he was acting,
how he was speaking. The Lord had given him grace. And you think of rest, what a
blessing rest is, when you can be so agitated. I remember my own dear mother,
when she was on her deathbed and before she found peace, she
was pleading and pleading with the Lord, open the ark and take
me in. There was no rest. There was
urgency. Her case was so urgent and pressing. But when the Lord blessed her,
then she spoke of how beautiful he was. Beautiful, beautiful.
And immediately was rest. All of that urgency, the cries,
the prayers were gone, and she could just rest in the Lord. The Lord had given her peace,
given her what she wanted, what she needed, and then she could
She could just wait for the Lord to come. And looking on, and
though at the time I didn't discern it, but looking it back, you
could very clearly see it. It was very evident. The change
was very evident. And so the Lord will make his
work appear. It will be like Barnabas goes
up to Antioch to those that believed, And he saw the grace of God.
Well, you can't see the grace of God unless the grace of God
is having an effect upon the people's lives. What they're
doing, how they're speaking, how they're acting, by their
fruits, he shall know them. And so there will be proofs of
giving. And maybe think then, what things
have we asked for? And what things have the Lord
given us as a proof of what he has given? Have we overlooked
that proof? Have we not been mindful of what
we've asked, and that the Lord has answered our prayers, and
therefore we lack the assurance, lack the comfort, lack the knowledge
that He has answered our poor prayers? It's a good thing to
look at this situation here in 1 Kings 3, how the Lord did immediately
bring a means of a proof of that wisdom that he had given. And may we then be really encouraged
to ask. Ask what I shall give thee, what
the Lord shall give unto us. May the Lord bless this word
to us and we go home and we be of those that ask of the Lord. Amen.