Ask What You Wish Me To Give You

Now Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place; Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, "Ask what you wish me to give you."

The temple was still to be built at the time the events in 1 Kings 3:3-5 take place. The people of Israel offered their sacrifices to God, but they sacrificed in places that had been established without God’s blessing. Even wise Solomon, the king, sacrificed in those places. And regardless of how often he sacrificed or how much he offered, God still met with Solomon on His own terms. Instead of appearing to him in the place in which he worshipped, God appeared to Solomon later on, in a dream.

This reminds me of my life before I came to know Christ. At times, I told myself I believed in God. I even prayed. But I was not in the place God had provided for me to worship Him- I was not in Jesus Christ. God came to me, but it was on His terms and it was not until He had taught me that I had nothing in this world, but that I had everything in Heaven. He did not come to me until he had taught me that there was nothing in this world that was going to save me; that my salvation was in Jesus Christ.

In those times before I knew Christ, when I prayed, it was mostly for the purpose of asking God for what I wished Him to give me. It was not until He met me on His terms that He said to me, “Ask what you wish me to give you.”