You are at Starbuck’s. God himself is across the table from you. Between sips of His Carmel Latte He says to you, “What would you like me to give you? Just ask and it will be done.”
Dramatic pause. You ask, “Excuse me, come again?” And he repeats. And you ask, “So when you say ‘anything’, do you mean, like, anything?” And you slowly begin to believe that He means what He says and says what He means.
Anything. Just ask. It will be done.
If God asked you that question, how would you answer? If you’re like me, my mind starts racing with ideas and my heart pounds with excitement. Health and wealth and success and respect and vacation homes and more birdies and funnier jokes and ripped abs and more Buckeye championships and on and on and on. Ok. Got a little carried away there.
The newly appointed King Solomon was asked this very question by God. In 1 Kings 3:5, 9 we read, “At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, ‘Ask for whatever you want me to give you.’” Solomon answered in verse 9, “Give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”
Wisdom. That’s what he asked for. Mind-blowing right? Solomon realized what a great responsibility he had been given—to govern God’s people. He felt like a ‘little child’ (v. 7).
Helpless. Ill-prepared. Unequipped. Unqualified. Overwhelmed.
He was genuinely struck by the privilege and honor of his position. He had deep respect for his father David’s legacy of uprightness (v. 6). Solomon was humbling himself before His Lord. Because he feared Him.
In Proverbs 1:7 Solomon says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
Which begs the question: Do we fear God? And when I say ‘fear’, I mean ‘fear’. Not reverence or respect, like how many people think the Bible defines the term. But fear. Like you fear the monsters under your bed or from your past. Like you fear failure or being misunderstood. Like you fear snakes or spiders or the dark or death.
Though my caricature of God at Starbuck’s is cute, it’s really not reality. Sometimes it’s just good to state the obvious: If you and I actually saw God, we would certainly and absolutely and without a doubt fear him. We would shake and tremble in our boots.
We would see how big and glorious and awesome and holy and magnificent and perfect and compassionate and loving and all-knowing and all-powerful and all-encompassing He is.
Moses hid his face because he was afraid of God (Gen. 3:6). But his fear didn’t cause him to run away. His fear caused him to stand in awe. His fear caused him to listen, trust, and ultimately obey. But not before he doubted. Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue. The Lord said to him, ‘I will help you speak and will teach you what to say’” (Gen. 3:10-12).
Moses gained knowledge of God. But God wanted him to apply it. Wisdom is applied knowledge. Wisdom is knowledge in action.
When was the last time you saw God? When was the last time you stepped away from Egypt, from the hustle and bustle of life? To spend time in the wilderness, the quiet place? When was the last time you unplugged from the world and plugged into His Word? When was the last time you asked God for wisdom?
It’s no wonder we don’t fear God. Because we don’t see Him. We don’t hear Him. We don’t know Him. Maybe there are burning bushes all around us and we don’t even realize it. Maybe if we slowed down long enough we could see God. Maybe He is trying to reveal Himself to us everyday. Maybe if we feared Him more we would fear life less. Maybe He is waiting to give us wisdom if we would only just ask.
So may our warm, fuzzy, cuddly, flannel graph picture of God turn into a more accurate picture of God. A God who is so glorious and majestic and beautiful and enormous and heavenly and holy. A God whose love is so deep and high and vast and endless. A God who is above and in and under and around and in the midst of everything. A God who is too powerful for words.
A God who knows us better than we know ourselves. A God who sees every sin we have ever committed and will ever commit. A God who loves us anyway. No matter what we ask for.
This is Jesus.