“I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for…”
1 Kings 3:12-13 (NIV)

It is a season of transitions in my family, and in Wendy’s. My parents moved from their home in Des Moines into a retirement facility here in Pella in October. Just this past Wednesday, we moved my mother into a memory care facility. That same week, Wendy’s 95-year-old grandmother decided to move from the apartment where she still lives independently into a retirement home where she can get a higher level of care.

As we go through the process of planning and executing the move of our senior loved ones into much smaller spaces, I’ve been fascinated to observe what things make the cut, and what things seem to have importance. My father shared with me that he still has in his possession every one of his tax returns dating back to when he became a CPA, though he questioned why he kept them. The other day, Wendy’s grandmother was thinking about her move and was very concerned about what would happen to an old coffee table she hasn’t used for years. As far as I know, it has no real material or sentimental value. It has been gathering dust in storage somewhere. It has caused me and Wendy to think about the things on which we place value, things that take up a share of our earthly space and mindshare. Just last night we had a conversation about many of the things in our lives that require our time and energy to go through, consider, organize, and purge.

In today’s chapter, young King Solomon has a dream in which God offers to grant him whatever it is he desires. Solomon, feeling the weight of the crown and all that goes with it, asks God for wisdom. God appreciates the fact that Solomon did not ask for the things for which most people beg: wealth and long life. In the dream, God responds that He will grant Solomon wisdom, but will also grant the young monarch wealth and long life he didn’t ask for.

I couldn’t help but remember Jesus’ words to His followers in His sermon on the mount. He had just finished talking about where people place their treasures, and then He transitioned to talking about the way people worry about having all the things the world affords on Earth. He finishes by telling His followers:

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Matthew 6:33 (NIV)

In the quiet this morning, I find God bringing to heart and mind all of these experiences, conversations, and observations from the past few weeks. God’s question to Solomon was effectively the same question Jesus was asking of His followers, myself included:

“What’s important to me?”
“What do I treasure?”
“What do all the storage areas of my life reveal about what I find important?”

I confess that it’s tempting to view Solomon’s prayer request as a name-it-and-claim-it formula: “If I put God first then God guarantees me riches and a long life!” However, that way of thinking is still ultimately all about me getting to the earthly treasure in the end, and thinking that way ultimately reveals my truly skewed priorities.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.