Read 1 Kings 8:22-30,41-43

Tuesday

Read 1 Kings 8:22-30,41-43

8  Then King Solomon summoned all the leaders of the tribes and clans of Israel to come to him in Jerusalem in order to take the Lord’s Covenant Box from Zion, David’s City, to the Temple.

⁶Then the priests carried the Covenant Box into the Temple and put it in the Most Holy Place, beneath the winged creatures.

10 As the priests were leaving the Temple, it was suddenly filled with a cloud ¹¹shining with the dazzling light of the Lord’s presence, and they could not go back in to perform their duties.

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22 Then in the presence of the people Solomon went and stood in front of the altar, where he raised his arms ²³and prayed, “Lord God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below! You keep your covenant with your people and show them your love when they live in wholehearted obedience to you. ²⁴You have kept the promise you made to my father David; today every word has been fulfilled. ²⁵And now, Lord God of Israel, I pray that you will also keep the other promise you made to my father when you told him that there would always be one of his descendants ruling as king of Israel, provided they obeyed you as carefully as he did. ²⁶So now, O God of Israel, let everything come true that you promised to my father David, your servant.

27 “But can you, O God, really live on earth? Not even all heaven is large enough to hold you, so how can this Temple that I have built be large enough? ²⁸Lord my God, I am your servant. Listen to my prayer, and grant the requests I make to you today. ²⁹Watch over this Temple day and night, this place where you have chosen to be worshipped. Hear me when I face this Temple and pray. ³⁰Hear my prayers and the prayers of your people when they face this place and pray. In your home in heaven hear us and forgive us.

41–42 “When a foreigner who lives in a distant land hears of your fame and of the great things you have done for your people, and comes to worship you and to pray at this Temple, ⁴³listen to his prayer. In heaven, where you live, hear him and do what he asks you to do, so that all the peoples of the world may know you and obey you, as your people Israel do. Then they will know that this Temple I have built is the place where you are to be worshipped.

Think

In this prayer Solomon dedicates the temple - not as a place that contains the presence of God; but as a place that represents the presence of God.

In the New Testament the Christian community represents the presence of God.

Pray

Pray Solomon's prayer for the temple as a prayer for your church.