Prayers From the Bible Part 1Sample

Independence or humility - Solomon's prayer

There are many things that this world tells us are important that I disagree with: wealth, success, and independence. There’s a very good reason why we Christians often feel this way. God has turned our lives upside down. He has worked in us by His Spirit to transform us so that we are no longer guided by the priorities and desires of this world. This often means we feel like we don’t belong or like we’re being trite, ‘straight,’ or even boring.

Imagine for a second that you’ve just become the king of Israel. And not just that, but you’re the king of Israel after King David – a man whom God called faithful. What a pair of shoes to fill! I can imagine at this moment that Solomon's temptation could have been to ‘fake it till he makes it’ – to prove that he had what it took to rule a great nation. I think the greatest triumph of this prayer is seeing that Solomon recognises God’s greatness far surpasses his own. No matter what his lineage, name, wealth, strength, or any other worldly measure of might could be, he knew God had been shown to be great through David’s rule. So, instead of straining to be king on his own, he asked God to give him an obedient heart to judge God’s people and to know the difference between good and evil. Oh that we would pray these words in the moments we need to reach within and find what we need to match the moment before us. What would God do with us then?

Written by KATIE SMITH