The Dream

Martyn Payne

On your marks:

God sometimes feels so close while at other times God seems to be out of reach and out of sight. Sometimes God startles us by the immediacy of his presence but then God is gone again, drawing us on by his very absence. This has been the experience of God's people all down the ages, ever since we cut ourselves off from intimacy with God at the beginning. This is just as true an experience of God for the 'great names' of the Bible as it is for Christians today. God calls us to 'live by faith, not by what we see' (2 Corinthians 5:7) because 'faith makes us sure of what we hope for and gives us proof of what we cannot see' (Hebrews 11:1).

Today's story is a moment from the life of Solomon when he felt particularly close to God and was offered whatever gift he wanted. It is part of a series of stories linked to the big Bible story of 'Hide and Seek'.

Get set:

You can find a retelling of this story in The Barnabas Children's Bible, story 147. (The following stories (148-151) give examples of Solomon making wise judgments and also bring together some of his wise sayings from the book of Proverbs.) This story is told in two places in the Bible: 1 Kings 3:1-15 and 2 Chronicles 1:1-13.

Go!

1. After seeing off various challenges from rivals for his father's throne, Solomon finally became King. What an inheritance he had! David had been so respected and had had such a deep experience of God - how could Solomon hope to follow in his footsteps? Solomon truly believed in God and wanted to be a faithful king (see I Kings 3:3 and also 2:1-4) but he must have been nervous! God had spoken to David so often through his poetry in the psalms, had shown himself so often through miracles of protection during his lifetime, and had blessed David with a very personal experience of his mercy. Could Solomon be that close to God?

As he began his reign he must have longed for his own personal experience of the invisible God. Perhaps this is the reason for the extravagant sacrifices at the shrines, particularly in Gibeon (v. 4)? Are they evidence of his urgent search for God and his longing that God should not hide himself from him? It was then that he experienced the dream. Read the story in The Barnabas Children's Bible, story 147.

Ask the group whether they can remember any of their dreams. Do they ever have the same dream twice? Are their dreams exciting or scary sometimes?

God often speaks through dreams in the Bible and that is one reason why it is a good idea to pray before we go to sleep at night. An ancient prayer of the Church (from the service of Compline) says this:

From evil dreams defend our sight

From fears and perils of this night

Tread underfoot our deadly foe

That we no evil thought may know.

And there is also David's prayer in Psalm 4:8:

I can lie down and sleep soundly because you, Lord, will keep me safe.

2. In Solomon's dream, God gave him a tremendous offer. He could choose any gift he wanted! I wonder what you would choose. Make a list of all the possible 'blank cheque' gifts the group can possibly think of. For example: tremendous wealth, superhuman power, to live forever, perfect health, political influence, worldwide fame, artistic talent, enormous strength, unfading good looks. (Ask the group to think of some of the powers that the super heroes possess and this might extend the list even further!) Which gift would each member of your group choose and why? Which gifts would do the world the greatest good? Are there possible dangers lurking within some of these gifts?

Now focus on the gift that Solomon chose - namely the ability to know the right thing to do and to know the difference between right and wrong (v. 9). Why do the group think God said that this was the best gift of all (vv. 10-11)? Now Solomon had had his own personal experience of God, which changed him completely. It influenced the rest of his life and, even though he did not often 'see' God like this again, he knew that God was always there.

3. Collect a series of fun challenging activities which the group can go round and experience. Each one should have nothing to do with how knowledgeable a person is academically but much to do with other skills and even common sense. There are some good examples of these alternative measures of how gifted we are in the board game Cranium. With these activities, you can open the way to talk about the fact that being clever is much more than just knowing things. Here are some ideas:

• Using some small sugar packets (such as those available from a cafe), bend your arm back and place a packet on your elbow. Now swiftly move your forearm down and try to catch the packet in the same hand. Continue adding more packets until you can't catch any more!

• In pairs, try acting out particular phrases for your partner to guess, such as zero gravity, walking the plank, making a cake, playing a sport, lighting a match.

• Try signing your name with both hands simultaneously.

• Try keeping three tissues afloat in the air. Start by throwing them into the air and then use one hand to pull them up each time they fall. You must not let any touch the ground. How long can you keep them all in the air?

• Raise your right hand and point in the air, tracing three imaginary squares, while counting to 12 (each number corresponding to a corner). Now raise your left hand and trace four triangles in the air, while counting to 12. Now raise both hands. With your right hand trace squares and with the left-hand triangles, and don't forget to count to 12!

• Bring both hands up in front of you. Now, with your left hand, point your index finger forward; with your right hand, raise your thumb in the air. Switch thumb and forefinger positions between hands. Do this as quickly as you can.

The gift Solomon chose was wisdom. This is not a word that is so familiar to children today (and even maybe some adults!) and it is not the same as knowledge.

Put up on a sheet of paper two columns - one headed 'knowing about things' and the other 'being wise about things'. How are these two different? Write up ideas from the group as you talk about the two phrases. When faced with a problem, how is wisdom needed and when is knowledge helpful?

Solomon himself wrote a lot about the difference, which is recorded in the Book of Proverbs and also Ecclesiastes. Read what is written in I Kings 4:29-34. Solomon had so much wisdom that he became world famous and so had power, influence and wealth too in the end, just as God had promised. He once wrote: 'All wisdom comes from the Lord, and so do common sense and understanding' (Proverbs 2:6). He writes more about wisdom in Proverbs 3:13-18.

The story about the two women and the baby in 1 Kings 3:16-28 is perhaps the most famous example of Solomon using his gift of wisdom (see story 149 in The Barnabas Children's Bible). Tell this story from memory and pause before the end to see whether the children can be wise enough to work out what to do! It makes a good starting point for discussing what wisdom is.

4. Stories 149-151 in The Barnabas Children's Bible contain selections from the Book of Proverbs about families, friends and life. Read these with the group. (If you don't have The Barnabas Children's Bible, make your own selection from Proverbs, printing them out for yourself using www.biblegateway.com.) Which ones do the group like best?

Now ask them to choose one or two each and create their own illustrated versions of the words to make a display or possibly put together as their own book of Solomon's wisdom.

Reading these might also inspire the children themselves to come up with their own wise sayings. Can they decide on their top ten pieces of wise advice that they would want to pass on to others?

5. After the dream, there were two more occasions when Solomon had an experience of God being really close and not hidden. The second one was when he had finished building the temple on the day it was dedicated (see I Kings 8:10-13 in particular). Solomon prayed an inspiring prayer following this. There is a retelling of this in story 153 of The Barnabas Children's Bible.

Solomon was indeed a very great and wise king, but being wise doesn't mean that you always act wisely yourself and sadly that was true for Solomon. The third time God appeared to Solomon was to warn him that he shouldn't get mixed up with worshipping idols (see I Kings 9:2-9) but clearly Solomon didn't listen. Alongside the worship of the true God, he set up statues to the gods of the countries from which some of his wives came (see I Kings 11:3-8) and this was his downfall. I wonder why he wasn't so wise in the end. Is it easier perhaps to be wise for other people than for yourself?

6. When we pray for other situations and other people, it is usually wisdom that we ask for, not more knowledge. In a time of prayer, use the proverbs that you have written out and illustrated. Put them together in the middle of your circle and encourage each member of the group to pick out one (not their own, if possible) and turn it into a prayer for other people. You might like to use the words of the old chorus about the wise man from the parable Jesus told to sum up these prayers each time:

The wise man built his house upon the rock... and the house on the rock stood firm.

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