For some reason, Solomon's statement to God in I Kings 3:7 has been coming to mind frequently the past few weeks. He tells the Lord:
...I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.
For me, it has just seemed appropriate to keep acknowledging this to God in prayer recently. I'm inclined to believe it is the prompting of the Holy Spirit, because I have not read from I Kings recently, nor from any other portion of Scripture pertaining directly to Solomon. It is not a passage that I have worked to memorize, nor have I ever heard any preaching on it. And yet, when I manage to still my heart for honest, thoughtful prayer, it keeps coming to mind. It has appropriate for many reasons.
Like A Child
The past six months I have desperately needed God's guidance, and must keep imploring that He make it clear. Like a child, I don't know which way to go. In the words of Solomon, I don't know how to go out or come in.
But it's more than that. I have some approaching needs - legitimate needs, not preferences or desires - that I need Him to fulfill, as my efforts to that end have so far been unsuccessful. Like a child, I need my "daily bread" from my Father (Matthew 6:11). And as the "squeeze" of the need becomes more and more pronounced with each passing day, I have to demonstrate faith that when the time comes, my Father will give me bread instead of a stone (Luke 11:11-13).
This morning, I've also reflected on other child-like qualities that make Solomon's words so apt for my prayers. For example, I am still prone to private spiritual temper tantrums (which is humiliating to admit). I have moments when I simply cannot maintain the facade of composure and contentment any longer, and - when no one is looking - I have a fit. Figuratively speaking, I'm not the child who cries and stamps around in the middle of the store like you see some children do; I wait until I get home, and then I cut loose with all of the drama I can muster. Whatever it may be - fear, anger, hurt, confusion, disappointment, discontent, impatience, or just a bad mood - my soul thrashes and flails and pouts with the immaturity of a little child.
Finally, like a child, I've come to realize that I have no real concept of how good the Lord is. I take many things (okay, almost everything) for granted. And I seem almost wholly incapable of appreciating the magnitude of what He has done for me. It's not deliberate; I'm not willfully ungrateful. I'm just a little child. I don't comprehend it all. It's like a child receiving a Christmas gift that includes a well-funded savings account, a valuable piece of property with a home built on it, and the guarantee of life-long gainful employment. A well-mannered child would be "thankful" but lack an understanding of what he has received. He may have some understanding of what those things are, and even that they will be important in the future, but he lacks a full understanding of it all in the moment. Furthermore, he is probably more excited about the wrapped packages that contain toys that are meaningful to him now, that he can play with today. As an adult, I can look back on things my family did to provide for my adulthood that I really didn't get as a kid. And those toys I received? I don't have a single one of them now - they broke, wore out, or were donated. How often do I do the very same thing with God? I am more excited about the shiny bauble in front of me that pleases me in my spiritual immaturity, and fail to comprehend the incredible things laying ahead that will be meaningful for eternity? I'm like a child.
A Perfect Father
Confessing that I am "a little child" to the Lord has not been a negative thing. In fact, it has been quite positive. It has added an aspect of humility to my prayers. Other than the spiritual tantrums, there is nothing wrong with being a child before the Lord.
Bringing Him our needs for guidance and provision is normal. Does a good father resent his children for needing his instruction? Does a good father expect his children to be able to provide their own food and shelter?
Recognizing our own limited understanding is healthy. Does a father withhold childish gifts in the present because they will be less meaningful to the child in the future? Does a father fail to provide for a child's future simply because the child cannot comprehend it all now?
And regarding those tantrums, seeing them for what they are and confessing them before the Lord is part of how we (slowly) mature in our faith. A good father does not tolerate such behavior, but also understands that immaturity is the source of the tantrum and corrects the child accordingly. When faced with a crying, distraught child, a good father knows when to comfort, when to assist, and when to rebuke.
If a good father does these things, imagine what our perfect heavenly Father will do as He cares for us.
Being the Lord's Children
Solomon's statement pleased the Lord, and he was blessed for it. We would do well to acknowledge our own child-like condition in prayer, and seek the Lord's guidance, provision, comfort, assistance, and instruction. Let's conclude today with a few other passages from Scripture related to this topic. I will offer them without further comment, allowing the Holy Spirit to do with them what He will as you read.
And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.
Luke 18:15-17
Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
Matthew 7:9-11
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
Psalm 27:33-35
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Matthew 6:25-33
And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
I Corinthians 3:1-3
Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.
I Corinthians 14:20
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
I Peter 5:6-7
...I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.
And the speech pleased the Lord...
I Kings 3:7 and 10
Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
Psalm 103:13-14
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