The Story, Chapter 13 "The King Who Had It All"

The Story, Chapter 13

"The King Who Had It All"

 

If you drop a frog into a boiling pot of water, the frog will jump out.  But, if you put a frog into a lukewarm pot of water, you can slowly turn the heat up on it and the frog will stay in the pot and boil to death. Frogs can detect sudden changes in their environment, but they cannot detect small, subtle changes. And by the time that they recognize that they are in a dangerous situation, it’s too late - their bodies are too weak to get out.
 
So, why am I telling you this?  Chapter 13 of The Story is the story of King Solomon.  Solomon started off strong, like a frog … green.  He knew nothing about being a king, He only knew what his father David had told him about loving God and obeying God and knowing God. But one day, Solomon stepped into a pot of lukewarm water and didn’t recognize what was happening ... and eventually got cooked.
 
When King David passed the baton to his son Solomon, everything started off going Solomon's way - he had it all. God came to Solomon in a dream and God said to Solomon, “Ask me for whatever you want — anything, and I’ll give it to you.”  That’s a very interesting test. If God were to offer you anything in the world, what would you ask for?  Here’s how Solomon responded: “Now Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David.  But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties.  Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number.  So 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?”
 
Solomon asked for a discerning heart, because no matter how smart the mind may be, if the heart is wrong, all of life will be wrong. God was pleased with Solomon’s request and granted it. Solomon not only ruled with wisdom, but he also wrote down the wisdom that God put in his brain for all people to read and to live out. We find this in the Book of Proverbs. It’s amazing because, in Proverbs, Solomon identified all kinds of lukewarm pots that should be avoided … he KNEW if people got into them, they'd end up being cooked…….