Ask God in confidence according to His will

1 Kings 3:7-9 (ESV)
7 And now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. 9 Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?"

King Solomon sleeping and in prayer acknowledged the great responsibility he had as king and that he required God’s wisdom to see through his duties. Solomon asked God for the wisdom and discernment he needed to govern the people and to know what was right and wrong. From a just request God granted Solomon his desire and so much more.

The apostle James tells us, “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.” God desires to hear our requests that are a requisite to our service for Him. We should ask with confidence, not looking to the world for an answer, but instead depending upon God for His blessing. We should not be as King Ahaz when Isaiah spoke to him saying, “Ask the Lord your God for a sign of confirmation, Ahaz. Make it as difficult as you want—as high as heaven or as deep as the place of the dead.” But the king refused. “No,” he said, “I will not test the Lord like that.” Instead we are to pray like Solomon, asking in confidence and asking for that which aligns itself with the will of God.