Don Veitch

Dear Friends in Christ--

Among today’s readings from the lectionary is one from 1 Kings (3:5-14) about young King Solomon:

As I thought about this Old Testament reading, I was reminded of the recurring and pervasive issue of hubris for God’s people.

Hubris: excessive pride or self-confidence. In Greek tragedy, excessive pride toward or defiance of the gods, leading to nemesis (a downfall).

Our Tuesday Bible study has been in Genesis and we have repeatedly come to look at how the people of those early times confounded God’s intention by their hubris–eagerness to supplant God’s way and God’s wishes with one’s own wishes (SELF)--frequently leading to a downfall.

To cite just a few, we looked at Adam and Eve whose hubris caused them to help themselves to the Tree of Knowledge despite God’s command to the contrary. We looked at the people of Babel whose excessive confidence built their tower to the Heavens--frightening God because they had gone too far--set their sights too high. We saw the hubris of Sarai and Abram whose impatience with God’s promise for uncountable offspring caused them to adopt a plan to “hurry things along” with their own scheme to “use” the slave, Haggar, to hasten and solidify God’s promise of uncountable offspring.

And there are numerous other examples--where again and again (unlike young King Solomon), humans have acted with enormous pride and confidence on their own assessments of a situation instead of letting God’s plan unfold as He might wish.

I’d like to share a poem--a favorite of mine that deals in a secular way with this issue of unbounded and unbridled hubris--the sonnet Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I met a traveller from an antique land,

Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. . . Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;

And on the pedestal, these words appear:

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;

Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

Too often we, too, (in our hubris) are thoroughly engaged in making “colossal wrecks” of our lives and our world when God would have it otherwise. And all that we leave behind (as in the poem--and in our own legacies--is a “shattered face, a frown, a wrinkled lip, and a sneer of cold command.” Some folks even (boastfully) adorn such pitiful legacies with a command to “Look on my works . . . and despair!”.
The joke is on us, I think.

Today, we see in 1 Kings what it looks like to truly be God’s people-- “Kingdom People”--ready to do God’s work in the world--humble and obedient--living life in “faithfulness and justice and integrity of heart.” “God, you have made your servant king in succession to David my father. But I am a very young man, unskilled in leadership.” Here--not the pride of Ozymandias or Eve or Sarai --but a “servant king” laden with humility and self-doubt but trusting in God and God’s ways. “Give your servant a heart to understand how to discern between good and evil, for who could govern this people of yours that is so great?” How, indeed could one person govern so great, a complex mass of people? What does it take? (More than hubris, I think. More than a cold sneer of “command.”)

God tells Solomon 3:11 “Since you have . . . not asked for long life for yourself or riches or the lives of your enemies, but have asked for a discerning judgement for yourself, here and now I do what you ask--give you a heart wise and shrewd as none before you has had and none will have after you.”

God is pleased with young Solomon’s humility, and he rewards him with a long (40 years) and positive reign. (I think Ozymandias did not so share in God’s rewards).

(God remains pleased as long as Solomon follows His commandments; although Solomon had many good years and accomplished many respected goals including rebuilding the Temple--Solomon does fail to carry through in the end.)--11:9 Yahweh was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned from Yahweh the God of Israel who had twice appeared to him 11:10 and who had then forbidden him to follow other gods; but he did not carry out Yahweh’s order.

In his youth, Solomon had it right but in his old age, he allowed his hubris to corrupt his integrity.

I have noted that sometimes God’s path is not comfortable or enjoyable--(as when Jonah follows his own paths because warning the Ninevites about their evil ways is not comfortable. His paths lead him to an encounter with a whale; then, ultimately, to despondently sucking his thumb under a fig tree.)

When God’s path is difficult or challenging, he provides the strength, wisdom, and fortitude to do his will despite self-doubts. Like Mary, one must just learn to learn to simply say “Yes.” Note: Beware of “comfort;” it probably means you are not meeting a challenge.

The lesson for me from this day’s reading is to take stock of my own hubris.  Where in my life do I act according to MY wishes, hopes, dreams, plans, and expectations—(and take steps toward an inevitable downfall?) Where might God be wishing other paths for me? Where do I serve SELF when I might serve God? Where do I more resemble Ozymandias than Solomon?

I pray today for a small piece of the wisdom of Solomon--to approach life with humble discernment; to seek strength and guidance and insight from God who cares for and loves us more than we can know or understand. And that (like Solomon) I may be blest with a heart wise and shrewd--and that that would last through a long life (following God’s ways and keeping His laws and commandments).  (The “riches and glory” may be something other than money, fame, or praise and far more valuable--in God’s Kingdom.)

Does your heart call you to be less proud and confident today? What monuments are you building today which will one day be found--“trunkless legs of stone in decay and disarray--boundless and bare in the desert stands”? Where else might God wish to use you in His work?

Peace,

Don Veitch