I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.
Solomon had placed a bronze platform in the Temple courtyard. During the celebration of the dedication of the Temple he got up on it and prayed a public prayer. It is not clear from the passage whether this was before or after the cloud filled the Temple. Solomon started his prayer by saying that there is no other god like God. He then said that the Temple cannot contain God. God is not bound to a location. Solomon then prayed that when the people sinned and God punished them, if they turned from their sins and prayed to God that God would forgive them and deliver them from their trials. Solomon further prayed that when foreigners heard of God and turned to following Him that God would grant their prayers as well.
The passage records that when Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and burned up the sacrifices that were on the altar and the presence of the Lord filled the Temple. It tells us that the presence of the Lord filled the Temple in such a manner that the priests could not enter the Temple. When the people saw this happen they bowed down and praised the Lord. They celebrated a seven day festival for the dedication of the Temple and on the eighth day they held a closing ceremony. We are told that there were so many sacrifices that they had to perform sacrifices in the courtyard because the altar could not hold all of the offerings.
God responded to Solomon’s prayer. God told him that when the people sin and He punishes them, if they humble themselves, seek God and turn from sin, He will forgive their sins and restore them. But if the people turn from God and worship other gods, He will uproot them and cause the Temple and Jerusalem to be such that all who see it will be appalled. It will stand as a testimony to the people of Israel’s unfaithfulness in the face of God’s graciousness to them.
I used this clip art because in this passage Paul talks about the fact that we as Christians want to do right and don’t want to do wrong. In fact, most people, whether Christian or not, want to do what is right and want to not do what is wrong. Yet, we still often don’t do what is right and do what is wrong. We do not do what we want. We have a sinful nature that makes us a slave to sin. This paradox, that we do not do what we want but instead do what we want not to do, tells us that the law which tells us right from wrong is insufficient to bring about reconciliation with God. But Paul tells us there is another way, that God has provided a sacrifice to reconcile us to Him. If we turn to God and surrender ourselves to His Spirit, He will transform us and free us from our slavery to our sinful nature. We must acknowledge that we only do right when God takes control of us, that any good we do is of no credit to us, but is only through the power of the Holy Spirit working within us.
The psalmist tells us that God will be our shield and place of safety. That even when we feel that we are overwhelmed and God is far away, He will come to our rescue when we cry out to Him. We should continue to trust in God for safety and salvation, even when God seems far away and it seems like our prayers are bouncing off of the ceiling. He will hear our prayers, nothing can keep them from his ears. Further this psalm, with colorful imagery, tells us that nothing can stand in His way when He comes to rescue us, which He will indeed do.
The first proverb tells us that often times the reason that people are in want is because they are too lazy to take advantage of the opportunities that they are right in front of them. If someone is chronically in need, they should ask themselves if perhaps the problem is their own behaviors. The second proverb tells us that the simple-minded need to witness punishment in order to learn, but that the wise learn when their mistakes are pointed out.