All of us, every day, are led and protected by God’s promises. In every struggle we face and in every trial we endure, we can carry through knowing God is close, watching and caring for us. And when we finally overcome our ordeals, all too often we forget to give God our first and foremost thanks and celebration. In today’s reading, 1 Kings 8, we get a picture of what has been a monumental hardship for the people of Israel finally being properly recognized and celebrated. And in reading this passage, we get a reminder of how glorious our God is and how wonderful (and easy!) it can be to come to Him in thanks.
King Solomon, finally inheriting the position of his father David and the promises God made to him, wants to make it known how grateful and thankful the people of Israel are to the Lord. Excited to fulfill a promise the Lord had made to his father in 2 Samuel 7: 12-15, Solomon has declared that a permanent temple should be built for the Lord, one to signify the importance of the land they had been delivered into as the Lord promised. The temple he had built for the Lord was a work of art by human standards, taking 20 years to build. Made of hand-carved stone and the finest cedar, decorated with hand-carved angels, and laid with more gold, silver, and bronze than imaginable, it was a piece of craftsmanship made by Solomon out of reverence and joy.
Once the temple was completed, it was furnished with holy furniture and finally, the Ark of the Covenant, containing the tablets signifying God’s promise of a home for Israel. After withdrawing, a wonderful phenomenon blessed the nation – an enormous cloud, full of the presence of the Lord, filled the temple, and finally God had His dwelling place within the land of Israel!
Solomon’s prayers of gratitude were full of joy that the Lord finally had a place where the Israelites could draw near to be with Him and thank Him. And in Solomon’s reflections, we gain a few reminders of our own reasons that we should be thanking God.
1. The Lord promised David that although he desired to build a temple in the Lord’s name himself, his son would be the one to glorify God in that way – and Solomon was filled with joy and awe that the Lord would use him to keep his promise. When we come to the Lord outstretch and reverent, he keeps his promise every time, as he has to Israel for centuries now and will continue to for centuries more after this and endless time to come.
2. Solomon and many craftsmen among the people poured decades of hard work into this temple as a sign of love, that the Lord would even consider dwelling among them. Solomon humbly says it himself: “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!” While symbolic in nature, demonstrating how God has dwelled among His people, God by His very nature can not be contained by or within anything – that he is everywhere and everything, simultaneously greater than the universe itself yet dwelling within each of our hearts. How incredible is our God!
3. Solomon has a simple request to God for the sake of all who follow Him – that they would turn to Him always. When a promise is made, when pain and pestilence befalls his people, when we are hungry or weary or lost, and when the enemies that belong to the world show up, Solomon prays that the people of Israel would come be in God’s presence, turning to him for strength. Even as physical temples come and go, God’s presence and glory still resides within us and around us, where we can always find Him and lift our hands and bow our heads in thanks. Never must we be without the presence of God.
Ultimately, the residence of God’s glory within Solomon’s temple is an act of love and appreciation by God. He does not need a temple to rest in, nor hand-carved stone and decorations or gold and silver and bronze. But He loves us and wants to dwell within our hearts! How blessed we should feel that the Lord of all creation, uncontainable and immeasurable, would always be present for us, always there to love, guide, and forgive us! Not all of us can build ornate temples out of wonder for God’s fulfilled promises. But we can do is listen to Solomon’s prayer, and come to God in prayer no matter what troubles befall us.
When Solomon finished praying to the Lord, he finished with a prayer over the people of Israel in 1 Kings 8:56-61, one I will end with by sharing with you. May Solomon’s words be true in your hearts as well today.
“Praise be to the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses. May the LORD our God be with us as He was with our fathers. And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, that He may uphold the cause of His Servant and the cause of His people Israel according to each day’s need, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God and that there is no other. But your hearts must be fully committed to the LORD our God, to live by His decrees and obey His commands, as at this time.”
Amen!