The Blank Check and the Listening Heart Text: 1 Kings 3:5-15
Introduction: The King's Currency
Every man, whether he knows it or not, is a king. He has a throne, a small kingdom he is responsible for, and a currency he deals in. For most men in our frantic, materialistic age, the currency is obvious. It is the currency of more. More money, more power, more influence, more life, more revenge. The modern world is a Gibeon of sorts, a high place where men go to sacrifice to the gods of their own bellies, asking for a blank check from the universe so they can fill in the blanks with their own appetites.
They want a long life so they can consume more. They want riches so they can buy more. They want the lives of their enemies so they can dominate more. This is the pathetic, grasping worldview of the natural man. It is a kingdom of one, ruled by an infantile tyrant who does not know what is good for him. He is like a child in a candy store with his father's credit card, thinking that happiness is just one more lollipop away, not realizing that what he truly needs is not another sweet, but a father's guidance.
Into this context, the story of the young king Solomon at Gibeon is a profound disruption. God Almighty comes to him in a dream and essentially hands him a divine blank check. "Ask what I should give to you." This is the ultimate test of a man's heart. What you ask for when you can have anything reveals everything about who you are and what you worship. What is your ultimate currency? What do you truly value?
Solomon's request is a rebuke to every prosperity gospeler, every self-help guru, and every petty tyrant who thinks that the goal of life is accumulation. He does not ask for things, but for a certain kind of heart. He asks for wisdom, for discernment, for the ability to govern God's people rightly. He understood that the greatest blessing is not what you can get from God, but the character that enables you to walk with God. This is a foundational lesson for all leadership, whether in the home, the church, or the state. True authority does not come from what you possess, but from the wisdom God provides.
The Text
In Gibeon, Yahweh appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, “Ask what I should give to you.”
Then Solomon said, “You have shown great lovingkindness to Your slave David my father, according to how he walked before You in truth and righteousness and uprightness of heart toward You; and You have kept for him this great lovingkindness, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. So now, O Yahweh my God, You have made Your slave king in place of my father David, yet I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And Your slave is in the midst of Your people which You have chosen, a numerous people who are too many to be numbered or counted. So give Your slave a listening heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this glorious people of Yours?”
And it was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to listen to justice, behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days. Now if you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and commandments, as your father David walked, then I will prolong your days.”
Then Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and made peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.
(1 Kings 3:5-15 LSB)
The Divine Offer and the Humble Reply (vv. 5-9)
The scene opens with God taking the initiative. It is a sovereign encounter.
"In Gibeon, Yahweh appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, 'Ask what I should give to you.'" (1 Kings 3:5)
God does not come to Solomon because Solomon has earned it. He comes in grace. This is always how God deals with men. He is the initiator. The offer is staggering in its scope. It is an invitation into the infinite resources of God. How a man responds to this offer reveals the state of his soul. A fool would ask for a bigger barn. A wise man asks for a better heart.
Solomon's response is a model of godly humility and covenantal faithfulness. He begins not with himself, but with God's faithfulness to his father, David.
"You have shown great lovingkindness to Your slave David my father, according to how he walked before You in truth and righteousness and uprightness of heart toward You; and You have kept for him this great lovingkindness, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day." (1 Kings 3:6)
Solomon is thinking covenantally. He sees himself as a link in a chain of God's promises. His position is not a result of his own maneuvering but a fulfillment of God's "great lovingkindness," His hesed, to David. He acknowledges that David's walk with God, in truth and righteousness, was the basis for this blessing. This is not works-righteousness; it is the pattern of the covenant. God's grace enables the walk, and the walk is the condition for continued blessing. Solomon is locating himself within that story.
Then, he turns to his own inadequacy.
"So now, O Yahweh my God, You have made Your slave king in place of my father David, yet I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in." (1 Kings 3:7)
This is not false modesty. This is a clear-eyed assessment of the task before him. To "go out or come in" is a Hebrew idiom for leadership, for conducting the affairs of the kingdom. Solomon, though a young man, recognizes the immense weight of the crown. He feels the gap between his own ability and the magnitude of the calling. This is the first step to true wisdom: knowing that you do not have it. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and that fear manifests as a profound sense of your own creaturely limits before an infinite God and His holy calling.
His request is born out of this humility and his concern for God's people.
"So give Your slave a listening heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this glorious people of Yours?" (1 Kings 3:8-9)
Notice what he asks for: "a listening heart." The Hebrew is literally a "hearing" heart. He wants to be able to hear God. He wants to be able to listen to the complexities of a case and discern the truth. This is the essence of wisdom. It is not about having all the answers, but about knowing where to get them. He wants a heart that is tuned to the frequency of divine justice. His motive is not self-aggrandizement but the good of God's people. He calls them "this glorious people of Yours." He knows he is a steward, not an owner. The people belong to God, and his job is to judge them according to God's standards.
The Pleased Giver (vv. 10-14)
God's reaction is one of profound pleasure. God loves it when we ask for the right things.
"And it was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing." (1 Kings 3:10)
Our desires matter to God. He is not a stoic, impassive deity. He is a Father who delights in the right-hearted requests of His children. God then explains exactly why He is so pleased.
"Because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to listen to justice..." (1 Kings 3:11)
God lists the standard requests of pagan kings and carnal men: a long life for self-indulgence, riches for self-glorification, and power over enemies for self-preservation. Solomon rejected this trifecta of selfishness. His request was God-centered and others-centered. This is the principle Jesus would later teach: "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (Matthew 6:33). Solomon sought the righteousness of the kingdom first.
And because he asked rightly, God gives extravagantly.
"Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor... Now if you walk in My ways... I will prolong your days." (1 Kings 3:12-14)
God not only grants the request for wisdom, but He grants it in superlative measure. Then He throws in the very things Solomon did not ask for: riches and honor. He even adds the conditional promise of a long life, the third item on the carnal king's wish list. The condition is crucial: "if you walk in My ways." This is the covenant structure again. The initial gift of wisdom is unconditional grace. The continuing blessings, like long life, are conditioned on obedience. God's grace is not a license to sin; it is the enablement to obey. And that obedience is the pathway to further blessing.
The Response of Worship (v. 15)
The account concludes with Solomon's response after he wakes up. The dream was not just a psychological event; it was a divine reality that demanded a response.
"Then Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and made peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants." (1 Genesis 3:15)
His first act is to go to the heart of Israel's worship, before the ark in Jerusalem. He offers sacrifices. The burnt offerings signify total consecration to God, and the peace offerings signify fellowship and communion with God. This is the only proper response to grace. When God gives, we worship. When God promises, we consecrate. His final act is to make a feast, sharing the blessing of the peace offerings with his servants. A heart that has received from God becomes a generous heart. True wisdom is not hoarded; it is shared. It results in joy, fellowship, and generosity.
The Greater Solomon is Here
This story is glorious, but it is also tragic. We know how Solomon's story ends. The man who was given a wise and discerning heart, unlike any other, ended his life with a divided heart, chasing after foreign women and their false gods. The king who did not ask for riches was eventually corrupted by them. The condition for a long life, "if you walk in My ways," he ultimately failed to meet. His wisdom, great as it was, was not enough to save him from his own folly.
Solomon's story points to our deep need for a better king, a greater Solomon. And that King has come. Jesus Christ is the true Son of David, the one in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3). When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, Satan offered him a similar blank check: all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. Unlike Solomon, who eventually succumbed to the temptations of wealth and power, Jesus rebuked the tempter with the Word of God. He sought first the kingdom of His Father.
Jesus is the one who perfectly embodies the listening heart. He said, "I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me" (John 5:30). He is the perfect wisdom of God, and He is the perfect King.
And here is the good news. God has made the same offer to us that He made to Solomon. Through Christ, He invites us to ask. And the New Testament tells us exactly what to ask for. "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him" (James 1:5). We are all "little children" who do not know how to go out or come in. We are all called to rule our little kingdoms, our homes, our vocations, our own hearts, and we are desperately inadequate for the task.
The answer is not to ask for easier circumstances or more stuff. The answer is to plead with God for a listening heart. We must ask for the wisdom that is found only in Christ. And when we, like Solomon, ask for the right thing, God is pleased. He not only gives us the wisdom we need for our task, but He throws in everything else besides. He gives us the riches of His grace, the honor of being called His sons, and the promise of eternal life. We must therefore come to the true Jerusalem, not just to the ark, but to the cross, and offer up ourselves as living sacrifices, which is our only reasonable worship in response to such a great salvation.