“…the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, ‘Ask for whatever you want me to give you.’ Solomon answered… ‘Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. 8 Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. 9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?’” (1 Kings 3:5,7-9)
“3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” (Philippians 2:3-4)
Let us make our nation ‘great’ or ‘great again.’ Let us ‘build’ or ‘rebuild’ our nation. Let us all put our nation ‘first.’ The sentiment of such aspirations seems so reasonable and laudable. The words can express a noble aim and a call to build something special. In a great, rebuilt, strong nation we will all prosper. The vulnerable will be protected and provided for. Inequalities will vanish. Everyone will benefit. Who would not want to be the citizen of a ‘great’ nation and in a position to be ‘first’ to reap the benefits of that greatness?
Across the Western world political movements are tapping into the longing to be great, to be first, to recover some perceived ‘golden age.’ But the visions of ‘(fill in any nation) first’ or ‘making (fill in any nation) great again’ or ‘rebuilding (fill in any nation)’ can often be illusory. They can mask a different agenda: division, selfishness, inequality, competitiveness, aggression, and the demonising of others.
Solomon’s story sounds a note of caution. He starts so well. Given a unique opportunity to ask God for whatever he wants the Lord to give him, he asks for wisdom to govern the people. At least at the beginning of his reign, he genuinely wants the best for the nation. He wants the nation to be great and he puts his nation first. The nation prospers. Unfortunately, Solomon’s hubris and the temptations of his many wives and their gods and goddesses will take him far from the spirit of his initial prayer. His son and successor has none of Solomon’s wisdom or restraint, coupled with a surfeit of bad advisors. It’s a toxic combination that will split the nation apart irreparably.
May the nations be blessed with servant leaders with discerning hearts who are able to distinguish between right and wrong and able to govern. And citizens who do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit but rather, in humility value others above themselves and look to the interests of others.