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.
]
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.
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