Choices

“Choices.” It was my only response. No second guessing but innate. It was the response I gave on a phone call I received from my dad. Upon answering, my dad went straight to the point, “What is my favorite word?” There was no “Hello” or “Hey, sweetheart” greeting like usual, so I knew he meant business, while doing business. He followed up with a “Thanks, talk later.” I’m assuming he continued his meeting with a group of people that he was trying to demonstrate the priority of our choices and the outcomes they provide, good or bad.

From my perspective, growing up in our home, we had two priorities: the people we love and the choices we make. It has been ingrained in us that those two things always affect each other. Even when we view a situation as something we don’t deem our responsibility, choosing to not act or participate is still making a choice. As I have grown older and had kids of my own, those are still my priorities, even though sometimes my expectation is perfection either from myself, my husband, or my kids. I’ve also learned that asking for help and wisdom from parents, and even friends that are a season ahead, can make some choices easier and crystal clear because of the life already lived. When I choose to try to be wise on my own or claim a personal victory that was all my doing, I have done nothing but walk into my own pitfall right around the corner.

As we dig deep in this series “Prophets, Priests, & Kings,” there are so many varying personalities and positions in those specific roles in the Bible. For me, those titles can be somewhat unrelatable. They can become more of the stories we’ve grown up learning but not necessarily very practical.  

I came across the passage where Solomon had a dream after his father David had died and God communicated to him by saying, “What can I give you? Ask.”  (1 Kings 3:5).  Solomon had already claimed the throne and was in a season of “going through the motions,” so to speak.  It reads as though he was doing what was expected, but not necessarily making his own choices. He was sacrificing and worshiping at other shrines while also continuing to honor and worship God and the ways of his father, David. Solomon’s response to God’s question was this, “Here’s what I want: Give me a God-listening heart so I can lead your people well, discerning the difference between good and evil. For who on their own is capable of leading your glorious people?” (1 Kings 3:9). God was so pleased with his choice, that he gave him a “wise and mature heart” (1 Kings 3:11), plus everything he didn't ask for. All the wealth. All the riches. All the legacy. There was no one before him and there would be no one after him with all that God was going to bless him with.

Solomon’s willingness to be humble, honest, and vulnerable showed his truest desires. His pursuit of God and earnestness to really want to hear God didn’t mean he led a faultless, perfect life, but reflected a life submitted and a hunger for God’s Presence above all else.
Historically, I’ve read that passage through the lens of God’s blessing on Solomon’s life and Solomon just honestly, asking for the right thing. But as I have processed, I truly believe Solomon had studied his father, David: his father’s choices, who his father listened to, who his father didn't listen to, and why. He paid attention to his father’s priorities. He watched him react to certain situations with vengeance and others with passiveness. Who knows if David had any heart-to- hearts with Solomon or if it was all from a distance.

I bring all of that up because Solomon had a choice to make in how he lived his life and viewed his father, well before he was ever king. He was the product of adultery and David's selfishness. For him to have grown up without suffering a cursed life is dumbfounding, in a way, and equally redemptive. It also goes to show that we choose our perspective no matter our position. We choose to honor even when we have every reason on earth to dishonor and be justified. Solomon’s perspective of his father was, “his relationships were just and his heart right.” (1 Kings 3:6).  He saw his father’s humanity at the same time he saw his love for God.

In this era, we have people that will help us navigate like the priests and prophets did in Solomon’s time. Will we choose to listen as he did or rebel because we think we know best? We will have authority that have imperfections and equally reach for God’s grace. Will we let them be both or judge them? As we search our own hearts, let us be reminded that God’s greatest gift to us all, is our choice, our free will to choose Him.  Let us not be unaware of the ripple our choices make.  In the same way, let us be bold enough to ask for help when our choices seem limited or dire and confident enough that God can use our choices, big or small, to change the world for His glory.

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