A Prayer Of Solomon

by G. Jarvie, Glasgow | Category: Prayers Of Scripture | Sept 1973

"Will God in very deed dwell on the earth?" (1 Kings 8:27).

This was Solomon's finest hour; it was the dedication of the house of the Lord, which Solomon was privileged to build. The king of Israel was kneeling on a platform before the Lord in the presence of all his people. David, his father, had longed to build a house for God but the privilege was not granted to him because he was a man of war and had shed blood (1 Chron. 28:3). He was permitted to prepare for the house, and to him was granted the pattern of it, for he had this in writing from the Lord (1 Chron.28:19).

Now at last it was finished after seven years in building (1 Kings 6:38), and at the dedication Solomon stood and then knelt before the altar of the Lord, with his hands spread forth toward heaven (1 Kings 8:22). This reverence was becoming in the presence of the God of heaven, who was also the God of Israel. It is becoming that we also draw near with reverence, yet with boldness, before the Eternal Throne to worship God. Our demeanour, as with Solomon, shows the attitude of our hearts. A reverent attitude shows a reverent heart.

As Solomon thought of the temple which he had built, and then thought of the Divine Majesty, he asked "But will God in very deed, dwell on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less this house that I have builded!".

How could a temple made with hands be the dwelling place of Him who made the heaven and the earth? God had promised to put His name there, and His glory would fill it. How wonderful that God should dwell with men I But this has always been His desire, and it will be the ultimate in the earth, when the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them (Rev. 21:3). Those who today have grasped the truth of the house of God (Heb. 10:19-22) can understand the joy and awe that filled the heart of Solomon at the dedication of the Temple.

Solomon knew that he and his people were an erring people, and he knew that God - righteous and true - must surely punish them if they sinned against Him. Solomon foresaw the day when Israel might be carried away captive to another land. So with hands stretched out to God he pleaded for them:

"If they return unto Thee with all their heart and with all their souls... and pray toward... the city which Thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for Thy name: then hear their prayer ... and forgive Thy people."

And so it came to pass, many years later, when Judah was carried captive to Babylon, and Daniel with them, that he opened his windows toward Jerusalem, and prayed for God's people, for His city, and for His house (Dan. 9). The people, the city, and the house, all were dear to that godly Israelite.

The God who heard Solomon's prayer for the divine dwelling place in the Old Covenant surely listens to His servants as they pray for His dwelling place today. His house today is a spiritual house, composed of living stones (disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ) built together. This spiritual house is a place where spiritual sacrifices are offered, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 2:5). This house is also seen as buildings (that is, churches of God) built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit (Eph. 2:21,22). This is God's way of unity, so different from the present day Ecumenical Movement.

In God's house let our attitude and our supplication be worthy of God, whose house we are (Heb. 3:6). How we should love God's house I We can learn much from the attitude and the prayer of Solomon as he knelt before the altar with his hands stretched out to heaven, in the presence of all his people.

None righteous

"When you consider the best in man there is in ~each one of us a hard core of pride and self-centredness which corrupts our best achievements and blights our best experiences. It comes out in all sorts of ways - in the jealousy which spoils our friendships, in the vanity we feel when we have done something pretty good, in the easy conversion of love into lust, in the meanness which makes us depreciate the efforts of other people, in the distortion of our own judgement by our own self-interest, in our fondness for flattery and our resentment of blame, in our self-assertive profession of fine ideals which we never 'begin to practise."

(Extracted)

"There is not a righteous man upon the earth, that doeth good and sinneth not" (Eccles. 7:20).

G. Jarvie, Glasgow | Sept 1973
Prayers Of Scripture