Yeah, it's a really cool experience to be here today. I was here for the 24-hour prayer meeting and all that too, so I really love what's going on here. But today, when I was thinking about kind of what to just give a short little challenge about, I was thinking about prayer specifically. And I was thinking about the question, What would you ask God for if he said he'll give you anything? Absolutely anything. And I think a lot of us would maybe go more of a material route. I think in our flesh, we would pick something like good grades or a boat or something cool that would be cool to have or world peace. There's a lot we could ask God for. God isn't our personal genie, for sure. But this question, it really made me think of a passage in 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles chapter 1, where God tells Solomon in a dream to ask Him for anything. And Solomon was facing some very hard times. He was facing a lot of pressure. He had just taken over this kingdom of Israel from David. And there was a lot of decisions he had to make. And so he goes and he asks the Lord for wisdom. And that's what we're gonna be looking at today. And I just wanna ask this question before we kinda get started. What big decision are you facing that you need wisdom for? I know this time of year is one that's big for decisions. I know for me as a college student, there's a lot of decisions I have to make for next year and different things like that. But what big decision are you facing that you need wisdom from God to make? And just to give a little context before we read this passage, David had just died at the end of 1 Chronicles 29, and chapter 1 here of 2 Chronicles is the first time we see Solomon taking over the reigns of the kingdom of Israel. And God is coming here in a dream to Solomon and tells him to ask, and he will receive, and Solomon's asking for wisdom. So we're going to read this passage real quick, just 2 Chronicles 1, verses 7 through 12. It says, In that night did God appear unto Solomon, and said unto him, Ask what I shall give thee? And Solomon said unto God, Thou hast showed great mercy unto David my father, and hast made me to reign in his stead. Now, O Lord God, let thy promise unto David my father be established, for thou hast made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude. "'Give me now wisdom and knowledge that I may go out "'and come in before this people, "'for who can judge this thy people that is so great?' "'And God said to Solomon, "'Because this was in thine heart, "'and thou hast not asked riches, wealth, or honor, "'nor the life of thine enemies, "'neither yet hast thou asked long life, "'but hast asked wisdom and knowledge for thyself, "'that thou mayest judge my people "'over whom I have made thee king.' Wisdom and knowledge is granted unto thee, and I will give thee riches and wealth and honor such as none of the kings have had that have been before thee, neither shall there any after thee have the like." And so what we're going to see today is that wisdom comes from above and we need to seek God for it. So first of all, in verse 7, we're going to see God's faithfulness. And you see it throughout the first part of this chapter, just in a little bit of context, that the Lord is with Solomon. It says in verse 1, And Solomon, the son of David, was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him and magnified him exceedingly. God was with Solomon, and he was faithful to him. And you see Solomon is also faithful to God in verse 6 there. It says, And Solomon went up thither to the brazen altar before the Lord, which was at the tabernacle of the congregation, and offered a thousand burnt offerings upon it. And Solomon is praising the Lord. He's offering up this praise to the Lord with offerings. And so the Lord, out of that, God knows when we're facing more than we can handle. And Solomon, just taking over the kingdom of Israel, is no doubt facing a lot of pressure and a lot of new responsibilities. He's being thrust upon him and different things. And so Solomon needs God, and God knows this. And when we're facing more than we can handle, God is there to help us, just like Solomon. But specifically in this passage, God says to Solomon in a dream, which is saying, I will give thee, ask whatever, and I will give it to thee. And so we're going to see here in verses 8 through 10 Solomon's request to God. And Solomon in verse 8, he's showing his attitude of thankfulness to the Lord. He says, Thou hast showed great mercy unto David my father, and hast made me to reign in his stead. He's giving thanks to the Lord. And then he asks two different things. First of all, he asks that God bring the Davidic covenant to pass in verse 9. And Solomon realizes the immensity, really, of how big the kingdom of Israel is and how much he needs God. And he asks God there to bring the Davidic Covenant to pass. But what we'll focus on today is that he asks the Lord for wisdom and knowledge in verse 10. says, "'Give me now wisdom and knowledge that I may go out and come in before this people, for who can judge this thy people?' That is so great." And we see here that Solomon, he asked God for what he believed was the most important gift anyone received. And I know if I was in that situation, I probably don't think I'd be thinking of maybe wisdom or something like that. I'd maybe be thinking more of a material thing just to, you know, ease pain or money or something, and that's me and my flesh. But Solomon here, he knows and he realizes his situation. He asked the Lord for wisdom and knowledge. And we can see in the Bible many places where where wisdom is really important to Solomon. Specifically, he wrote the book of Proverbs. He wrote Ecclesiastes, and you see throughout those books just how important wisdom really is to Solomon. Proverbs 4, 5, and 6 says, get wisdom, get understanding, forget it not, neither decline from the words of my mouth, forsake her not and she shall preserve thee." This is referring to wisdom. Love her and she shall keep thee. So wisdom, he's showing the importance here in Proverbs 4, just of the utter importance that wisdom has to his life and how he realizes that it's important to each and every one of our lives too, who he's writing to. And so Solomon requests this from the Lord. And something to notice, especially here in this passage, is that he is asking with the pure motives of judging and governing God's people, which we'll see here in a second, it pleases the Lord. And so, verses 11 and 12 there, it's God's gift is what we're going to see there in verses 11 and 12 to Solomon. And because of Solomon's pure motives, the Lord blesses him with this wisdom to judge his people that Solomon is governing. We also see that the Lord decides to bless Solomon with riches, wealth, and honor on top of this wisdom because this request pleased the Lord, because it was out of pure motives and a humble heart. That, Lord, I can't do this on my own. I need your wisdom. I need your wisdom and knowledge, Lord." And so Solomon begins to use this wisdom, as we see in the passage, or not in this passage specifically, but we'll see it later in 1 Kings 3. There's that well-known story about the two harlots, these women that come to Solomon with this baby, and the one mother, her child had died. And Solomon here is giving a verdict on whose baby is whose. And so he tells the woman, you know, cut the baby in half that both of you can take it. And the one woman is, you know, she doesn't care. And the other is distraught. And he figures out who the mother is. It's this wisdom that God has given Solomon. And that's how we see this wisdom firsthand. We can also see descriptions of the wisdom that God gave Solomon. In 1 Kings 4, 29 and 30, it says, And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the East Country and all the wisdom of Egypt. And it's really cool to just see how God gave, and he gave because of Solomon's heart for this ministry, really. And so why does this all matter, really, to us? I think that's something we can often overlook. We see this narrative story of Solomon, but we don't specifically see why this is important to our lives. And I think it's really because wisdom is so important to our lives. I don't know what any of you on this stream are going through today. It may be a tough time. It may be that you need to make a big decision. It may be any kind of different things, but I know a lot of us have these big decisions and lots of tough situations that we're going through. And that's what we're praying about today, that the Lord will give us wisdom in these tough decisions and tough times that we're going through. And really, this story was really an encouragement to me in just reading it, of how the Lord will give us wisdom if we're asking with pure motives and a heart of humility. and just how the Lord can work in and through that. And as we respect what the Lord has said, too, because, I mean, Proverbs 9, 10 says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, as we obey him. As we grow closer to Him, that's the beginning of wisdom. And as we've seen firsthand in Scripture how God has answered this prayer, it really is encouraging. And it's encouraging just to see how the Lord will give us wisdom. And it's really comforting to me. as there's a lot of decisions I know personally I have to make for next school year. And I know there's a lot of students here at the university that are struggling this time of year with knowing, you know, am I going to be able to financially come back? Should I work over the summer? Should I work at a camp? There's a lot of different things. And I encourage each and every one of you today to be praying, Lord, Please bless me with wisdom. Please bless those, maybe someone that has a tough decision they have to make. Lord, please bless them with wisdom." And when Solomon asked, God answered. And wisdom is from above, and we need to seek it. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank you so much for this passage that we can look into today. I pray that it was encouragement, and Lord, that we will act upon this, that we will, when faced with tough decisions or our daily lives, Lord, that we will seek you for wisdom. as you give much wisdom. And Lord, help us to make our hearts right before you and give us this wisdom, please, Lord. And I ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.