GREATER GLORY OF GOD Presents Advent Special JOURNEY TO BETHLEHEM Nineteenth Day in the company of  King Solomon – the Wisest Man 1 Kings 3 Solomon’s Prayer for Wisdom 3 Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David; only, he sacrificed and offered incense at the high places. 4 The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the principal high place; Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I should give you.” 6 And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. 7 And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. 9 Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?” - He built the First Jerusalem Temple (1 Kings 6 & 2 Chronicles 3 &4) - Dedicated the Temple (8) 1 Kings 8 – prayer of dedication / consecration 27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built! 28 Regard your servant’s prayer and his plea, O Lord my God, heeding the cry and the prayer that your servant prays to you today; 29 that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may heed the prayer that your servant prays toward this place. 30 Hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place; O hear in heaven your dwelling place; heed and forgive. - A lengthy list of petitions to God found in this chapter - Vanity of vanities – list of things (Ecclesiastes 1) Are you seeking knowledge? Humans are behind knowledge and the wisest man has this to say about it: 18 For in much wisdom is much vexation, and those who increase knowledge increase sorrow. - The futility of self-indulgence (Ecclesiastes 2) Ecclesiastes 2 15 Then I said to myself, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also; why then have I been so very wise?” And I said to myself that this also is vanity. 16 For there is no enduring remembrance of the wise or of fools, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How can the wise die just like fools? 17 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind. The fall of the kingdom 1 Kings 11 Solomon’s Errors 4 For when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David.