The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States for Wednesday, 14 December 2016 - Solomon: seeking God’s wisdom in a dreamDaily Scripture: 1 Kings 3:5 At Giv‘on Adonai appeared to Shlomo in a dream at night; God said, “Tell me what I should give you.” 6 Shlomo said, “You showed your servant David my father much grace, as he lived before you honestly and righteously, having an upright heart with you. You preserved this great grace for him by giving him a son to sit on his throne, as is the case today. 7 So now, Adonai my God, you have made your servant king in the place of David my father; but I am a mere child — I don’t know how to lead! 8 Moreover your servant is among your people, whom you chose, a great people so numerous that they cannot be counted. 9 Therefore, give your servant an understanding heart able to administer justice to your people, so that I can discern between good and bad — for who is equal to judging this great people of yours?”
10 What Shlomo had said in making this request pleased Adonai. 11 God said to him, “Because you have made this request instead of asking long life or riches for yourself, or your enemies’ death, but rather asked for yourself understanding to discern justice; 12 I am doing what you requested. I am giving you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has never been anyone like you, nor will there ever again be anyone like you. 13 I am also giving you what you didn’t ask for, riches and honor greater than that of any other king throughout your life. 14 More than that, if you will live according to my ways, obeying my laws and mitzvot like your father David, I will give you a long life.”
15 Shlomo awoke and found it had been a dream. But he went to Yerushalayim, stood before the ark for the covenant of Adonai and offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings. He also made a feast for all his servants.
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Reflection Questions:
When King David, Solomon’s father, died, he left an enormous vacuum in Israel’s national life. (So great a king had he been that even today the nation of Israel’s flag bears “the star of David.”) So as Solomon, David’s chosen successor, took the throne, he knew he faced big leadership challenges. His interview with God in a dream showed his awareness that just wearing a crown did not equip him to meet that set of challenges.
- If God said to you (in a dream, or in any other way), “Ask whatever you wish, and I’ll give it to you,” what do you believe you would be most likely to ask for? Now, on second thought, would you stick with that request, or can you think of one or more things that might be of greater significance? What did Solomon’s dream request show about the character with which he began his reign?
- Like Jacob, Solomon responded to his dream by offering praise and worship to God. If you have a particularly vivid or impactful dream, do you tend to shrug it off as soon as you awake? Have you ever considered taking the dream to God in prayer, asking if there is anything that God was seeking to communicate to you or invite you to do?
Lord God, I join Solomon in praying, “Please give your servant a discerning mind… to distinguish good from evil.” Help me to discern the paths you want me to take. Amen.
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Insights from Kari Burgess
Kari Burgess serves as ShareChurch Communications & Guest Relations Program Director at The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection.I can recall the frequent playground discussion with my friends in elementary school about what we would wish for if we found a lamp with a genie in it. It was a big deal to figure out how you could get the most out of 3 wishes granted by a mysterious genie. My first wish was ALWAYS: unlimited wishes. Am I right? You would have to be crazy not to ask for unlimited wishes first. Inevitably, this would turn into an argument about unlimited wishes being against the “rules” or some such nonsense.
The next clever wish of mine would be: a robot to clean my room. I know I could still put a room-cleaning robot to good use in my house. (And in today’s modern world, you CAN get a robot to clean your room. Or at least vacuum it. Do you have a Roomba? Is it great? I don’t have one personally, but I’ve heard mixed reviews. But after seeing the viral Facebook post about a family’s Roomba that ran over dog poop in the middle of the night, I’m not so sure I’ll be adding it to my wish list. Google ‘Pooptastrophe’ if you’re looking for a good laugh). But I digress…
My third clever wish would be: a room full of money. With enough money, I could buy as many toys as I wanted. And maybe solve a few big world problems too, if my 8-year-old mind was feeling generous.
But the Genie in a Bottle game was just that. A game. There was no hope in it. By the end of recess, after scheming about all the things we would wish for, we’d surmise we would probably never find one anyway. And, we didn’t really believe in magic.
But according to our scripture from 1 Kings today, God really did speak to Solomon in a dream and told him to, “Ask whatever you wish and I will give it to you.” Solomon had the opportunity to ask God for unlimited wishes, a robot (or perhaps a servant) to clean his room, a room full of money or some other self-serving wish.
But in his dream, Solomon instead asks for something much humbler and much more noble. He asks for a discerning mind to lead and govern the people entrusted in his care. Now that I’m older and wiser, would I have the discipline to ask God for something like discernment in leadership, rather than something more self-serving? I’d like to think so, but I’m not so sure. God was pleased with Solomon because of his humility and the spirit with which he made his request. We can learn a lot from Solomon in this moment.
There was hope and expectation in Solomon’s wish. This wasn’t a playground game or the empty promise of magic from a false god. Solomon had observed the blessings given to his father, David, when he “walked before you in truth, righteousness, and with a heart true to you”. He didn’t ask for a discerning heart because he believed he deserved it, but rather because he had confidence and faith God could provide it and had the boldness (coupled with humility) to ask for it.
Here is my wish: May my petitions to God fall within His will for my life. May my petitions to God be focused on the world and community around me and not be self-serving. May my petitions to God be asked with humility – knowing I could never be deserving of the blessings he has given me or will give me. And may my petitions to God be bold and courageous because I have confidence my God is all-powerful and can do anything.-------
The Daily Guide. grow. pray. study. from The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, United States for Tuesday, 13 December 2016 - "Jacob: a dream connecting earth with heaven"Daily Scripture: Genesis 28:10 Ya‘akov went out from Be’er-Sheva and traveled toward Haran. 11 He came to a certain place and stayed the night there, because the sun had set. He took a stone from the place, put it under his head and lay down there to sleep. 12 He dreamt that there before him was a ladder resting on the ground with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of Adonai were going up and down on it. 13 Then suddenly Adonai was standing there next to him; and he said, “I am Adonai, the God of Avraham your [grand]father and the God of Yitz’chak. The land on which you are lying I will give to you and to your descendants. 14 Your descendants will be as numerous as the grains of dust on the earth. You will expand to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. By you and your descendants all the families of the earth will be blessed. 15 Look, I am with you. I will guard you wherever you go, and I will bring you back into this land, because I won’t leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
16 Ya‘akov awoke from his sleep and said, “Truly, Adonai is in this place — and I didn’t know it!” 17 Then he became afraid and said, “This place is fearsome! This has to be the house of God! This is the gate of heaven!”
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Reflection Questions:Fleeing his angry twin Esau (cf. Genesis 27:41), Jacob had showed no vision greater than his own survival. He stopped at what the text calls “a certain place” to sleep. Alone in the wild, with only a stone for a pillow, he had a dream in which God promised him heirs who would bless the whole earth. That dream gave him a life-changing, awed sense of God’s presence. When he awoke, he worshipped, and named the place Beth El (Hebrew “God’s house”).
- Can you recall a time when you especially needed reassurance of God’s presence? What was going on in your life? In what way(s), big or small, did you find a renewed sense of God’s presence? What places or experiences make God’s presence real to you? How do you remember to seek God, and respond to God’s presence?
- What are some ways you might deepen your experience of God in weekly worship? What about the rest of the week? Identify one step you will take to draw closer to God through the act of worship, corporately with others and by yourself on days that do not have corporate worship.
God, build a bridge between my heart and yours, like the stairway in Jacob’s dream. Help me to daily remember your trustworthy promise to never leave or forsake me. Amen.
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Insights from Randy Greene
Randy Greene is a part of the Communications team at Church of the Resurrection. He helps develop and maintain the church’s family of websites. When he’s not at the church, he loves to write on his blog and reads a wide variety of books.A couple of nights ago, my wife and I decided to rearrange our bedroom. We ended up rotating our bed, which necessitated that she and I flip-flop which side of the bed we each claimed. This is the first time we’ve changed sides of the bed since we got married seven-and-a-half years ago, so this was a big deal.
Our sleep that night was miserable. The mattress had, over the years, conformed to our bodies and sleeping habits, so when we switched sides, the mattress no longer fit our bodies – the lumps were in all the wrong places. Even worse, though, was the simple fact that we were accustomed to sleeping based on our assigned sides of the bed, so our muscle memory was programmed to respond in certain ways during the night. When we rotated our sleeping positions, suddenly that muscle memory couldn’t work. The little adjustments we’d been making in our sleep for the past seven years completely went out the window. We woke up the next morning tired and sore. I even had a bizarre cowlick in my hair that, to this day, I cannot explain.
I imagine Jacob felt this same discomfort, but to a greater degree. Not only was he not sleeping in his own bed, but he was in an unknown place with no shelter and only a rock for a pillow. He was in the midst of a personal crisis that was shaking up his entire life and, to top it all off, his sleep was riddled with bizarre dreams.
Yet when he woke up, the first thing he did was to recognize the presence of God in that place.
When I am stressed, tired, and uncomfortable, seeking God is the last thing I think about – instead, my immediate reaction is to work harder to fix my problems. But I think there’s something special about being pushed outside my comfort zone that makes me particularly receptive to the message of God. When I am exhausted and weak and choose to find solace in Christ, God works in me in incredible ways.
Pastor Adam challenged us this weekend to find joy in discomfort. If I view challenges in life as an opportunity to trust in Christ, then those times of discomfort transform and become comforting. My goal this week to seek the presence of God even in my most awkward, uncomfortable circumstances.-------
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