In our study of 1 Kings 3:5-14 we now move from the footnotes on the Lord appearing to Solomon and on to the footnotes on the phrase "little child" in verse 7. That Solomon's phrase was more than just an expression of how he felt is indicated by today's two references in First Chronicles. As he approaches his death, David also worries that his heir is "young and tender" for so great a work of building a temple to the Lord.
In some ways Solomon finds himself in the situation of the poor Zoramites (Alma 32) who had been "compelled to be humble" by circumstance. This kind of humility is real, and it brings real blessings from God, but it comes with a danger. The question is, will the humility endure when the circumstances that brought it about are gone? In a sense, every true Latter Day Saint has been compelled to be humble. We have felt the weight of our sins and gone to the Lord in humility seeking forgiveness and a changed heart. What happens after?
In Revelations 3 the Lord addresses the saints in Laodicea. At one point they too had been humbled enough to come unto Christ and embrace the gospel, the good news of repentance, forgiveness and a mighty change. But the strength of their feelings and commitment had waned as the blessings of the Lord settled upon them. In their hearts there was a feeling of carnal security and self-satisfaction: "I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing" (v. 17). They, like Solomon later in life, had lost sight of their dependence on God. The need had not changed, but their ability to see it had grown weak. Had they been able to see themselves as they truly were they would have known that they were spiritually "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked" (v. 17). And aren't we all? It is difficult in the good times to maintain the effort it requires to "be zealous" (v. 19) in our seeking of the Lord. Our commitment becomes "lukewarm" (v. 16) and we are not able to even SEE the need to strive for the true gold "tried in the fire," to make our garments white, to have the Lord anoint our "eyes with eyesalve" that we might see things as they really are (v. 18). The saddest consequence of our condition is that we are unable to hear the Lord knocking at our door and thus miss the opportunity to invite him in to sup with us (v. 20).
This natural tendency of mankind is described best in Helaman 12:1-7. As the Lord responds to our humility and repentance with grace and blessings we have a tendency to lose our willingness to submit ourselves to his direction and guidance. We no longer desire that God rule us or guide us (v. 6). Solomon found himself in this condition towards the end of his reign when he no longer wanted God to tell him who to marry or how to relate with his foreign wives' spiritualities.
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