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Kings 3:5-12
Ninth Sunday after Pentecost Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke Sunday, July 26, 2026
“God Wants Us to Have a Heart for Him”
“You get three wishes.” That’s the agreement between the genie who had been trapped in a lamp and the person who released him from the lamp. Three wishes. It’s a story that’s been told in many ways over at least hundreds of years. Sometimes it’s a tragedy; sometimes it’s a comedy. Sometimes there’s a lesson you’re supposed to take from the story; sometimes it’s just about enjoying the tale. But it is a tale that takes the listener or reader on a journey. Go ahead. Put yourself in the shoes of the lamp-bearer. You get three wishes. What will you wish for?
Apparently over the years some consensus has developed around the best wishes, not to mention the ones with the potential perhaps to do the most damage to others. So, there are ground rules. You get just three wishes, even if you try to wish for more wishes. That wish won’t be granted. You can’t force anyone to fall in love. I’m sure the romantic types especially wanted to keep that from happening. And there’s no messing with death. You can’t wish for anyone to die or anyone to come back from the dead. Do I need to give you a moment? Do you need to change any of your wishes? Do you know what you would wish for?
Did any of your wishes involve money? If you have a genie at your command are you going to be rich? That seems to be in line with the thinking of most people or societal expectations. Perhaps there is a particular challenge that you would like to overcome. Maybe there is an illness you would like to sweep away. It’s perhaps skirting the rules a little bit, but you could wish for a long life. And maybe you can understand why the rule is in place that you can’t wish for anyone to die, because especially on a bad day, you might be able to think of someone about whom you might make that wish.
The genie-in-the-bottle hypothetical is really just a different way of asking: what would you do if you were in Solomon’s sandals? Solomon had something better than a genie. God himself appeared to Solomon, son of King David, who had taken over after his father as the king over God’s chosen OldTestament people. And, no, God did not say “three wishes.” He did say, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”
What do you suppose ran through the mind of Solomon when he heard God’s offer? Do you think he was very different from you? God spoke favorably of Solomon because he did not ask for long life or great riches or the deaths of his enemies, but I would not be surprised one bit if he at least gave these things some thought. After all, Solomon was a man, a human being, born to sinful parents. Sin resided in his heart just as surely as it has in yours and in mine. But Solomon was also a changed man. God had called him not only to be king but also to serve the King of the universe.
And Solomon demonstrated appropriate humility and thanks before God. He spoke of God’s mercy and love and faithfulness. He had seen it in the life of his father David. He had recognized God’s grace in the fact that Solomon now sat on David’s throne and ruled over God’s people.
Solomon called himself a little child who didn’t know how to go out or come in. But even more than that, he was God’s servant. He was among God’s people. And this was a huge honor. His father David had caused trouble when he tried to count the number of fighting men he ruled over as king. Son Solomon simply marveled that God had placed him over a great people, too many to be counted or numbered. And Solomon made his request. Now give to your servant a perceptive heart to judge your people, to distinguish between good and evil, for who is able to judge this great people of yours? What Solomon wanted to do was what God had called him to do. He was king. He wanted to be a good king. He would rule over and judge the people. He wanted the wisdom that would be required. He would be called on to determine whether what was happening in his kingdom was good or bad. He did not want to respond with an emotional reaction depending on how he felt that day or what his truth was in the moment. He wanted his words and actions to line up with the will of God regarding good and evil.
What our translation calls a “perceptive heart” is a “seeing heart” in Hebrew. Solomon wanted his heart to be able to see things as they really are. He wanted his heart to take in all the information necessary to rule well. He wanted a heart that always reflected what he was saying in that moment about the people he was ruling. They were God’s people. They belonged to God, not to Solomon.
And God wanted the same thing for Solomon. In the eyes of the Lord, Solomon’s request was good. Solomon’s request was to be able to do well what God wanted him to do. It was to have a heart that sees God first and sees everything else in relation to God.
And that is a different way of looking at things than the way most people do. There’s a reason God brings up the other options that seem to make some sense. Those are the sorts of things that most people would wish for or understand wishing for. Those are the things that someone might spend one of their three wishes on or might ask if God offers to give you anything. But those are also all things that show your heart is focused on yourself. A long life is for you. The lives of your enemies. That’s for you. Riches are for you.
Solomon’s heart was set on God. God’s people and what would serve them. God’s enemies were the evil that he would oppose. And to the extent that God would give him a lengthy reign, Solomon intended to put it to good use for God’s people. And God gave Solomon what he asked for. He would be wise and discerning. He would have the tools to rule God’s people well. We could look ahead to accounts of Solomon ruling wisely as the king. We could turn to the pages of Proverbs to hear the wise sort of advice Solomon shared with people. God did as he promised and gave Solomon a heart for God.
You and I are not Solomon. You and I are not rulers. You and I are not among the wisest people ever to have lived. But we do have a lot in common with Solomon. God hasn’t appeared to us in dreams. But he has offered to answer our prayers. And he wants us to pray for the things that he wants us to have. He wants us to have hearts that have been changed so they don’t focus only on ourselves. That’s what comes naturally. That’s what’s normal and even understandable. But God wants us to have hearts for him. He wants us to care about what he wants. He wants us to care about his people, a truly great people. That’s the people around you right now, believers gathered for worship. That means that when you get too cold in this building, you should still be concerned about the person in another pew who is feeling too hot. It means that you see with your heart that offerings given to the church are used to support ministry, reaching out to and serving others. Giving to God won’t make you poor, it will make you rich. Of course, it’s not just in church that God wants your heart to be inclined toward others. It’s all the time.
Paul wrote to Timothy in our second lesson about hearts that are self-focused instead of focused on God. He encouraged Timothy to teach people to be rich toward God and not to rely on physical wealth. Jesus taught a similar lesson with the parables of our Gospel today. There is a kingdom that is worth far more than anything else we have, anything else we own. God wants our hearts to see that, to recognize that.
You and I are like Solomon. We’re like Timothy. We’re like many who heard Jesus teach in parables. We have already come to know the rich promises of God. We’ve already seen his grace, his love, his mercy. We are well aware of his goodness. We know that we haven’t earned or deserved something from God, not a position, not a calling. We will continue to rely on his mercy and love.
Like his father before him, Solomon fell into serious sin as he served as Israel’s king. Timothy was a sinner. You and I, like them, have fallen short of the glory of God. But we have a Savior, Jesus. His heart was never set on anything other than God. His heart never treasured anything more than it treasured the kingdom of heaven. His focus was never selfish or self-serving. It served us. He died for us. He lives for us. He gives us the heart that we need to serve God and his people.
Our story is not one of genies and three wishes. Our story is one of an almighty God who offers to hear and answer our prayers. Our story is one of a merciful God who has called us to be his own and to serve him. Our story echoes that of King Solomon who in this instance gave a powerful testimony and honored God. May we follow his example. May we always confess that God wants us to have a heart for him.
The Text: 1 Kings 3:5–12 (EHV)
5The Lord appeared to Solomon in Gibeon in a dream at night. God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”
6Solomon said, “You have shown great mercy and faithfulness to your servant, my father David, just as he walked before you in truth, righteousness, and uprightness of heart toward you. You have shown this great mercy and faithfulness to him and have given him a son who is seated on his throne to this very day. 7O Lord my God, now you have made your servant king in the place of my father David, but I am a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. 8And I, your servant, am among your people whom you have chosen, a great people, who cannot be counted or numbered because they are so many. 9Now give to your servant a perceptive heart to judge your people, to distinguish between good and evil, for who is able to judge this great people of yours?”
10In the eyes of the Lord, Solomon’s request was good. 11So God said to him, “Because you have asked for this, and you have not asked for a long life, nor have you asked for riches, nor have you asked for the lives of your enemies, but you have asked for discernment to reach just verdicts, 12therefore I will act according to your words. Yes, I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you before you, nor will anyone like you rise up after you.