I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Kings 8.

    Once Solomon had completed having the furnishings for the Temple completed, he moved the Ark from where David had placed it to the Temple with a festival similar to the one David had thrown to bring the Ark into Jerusalem. My reading of this description is that Solomon’s festival had more pageantry and less celebration than that performed by David. There is a time and a place for both.

    There are many things we can learn from the prayer which Solomon prayed to dedicate the Temple. Solomon started out by acknowledging that he was only in a position to build the Temple because God chose him for that honor. He also clearly stated that the glory the people of Israel experienced on that day would continue only so long as they and their leaders continued to follow God’s commands. The same holds true today, as we follow God’s commands we will experience His glory. When we fail to follow His commands His glory will depart from us. However, grand and glorious as the Temple was, grand and glorious as whatever we experience may be, it is not sufficient to contain God. God may be present in a particular location or event, but He will never be limited to that place or event. There is no place we can go where God is not there. Which means that wherever we are, whatever events are happening around us, we can and will experience God’s glory if we follow His commands.
    Then comes the most powerful part of Solomon’s prayer. He asks many variations of, “If the people suffer because they have sinned against You, and if they turn to You, acknowledge Your Name, and pray hear their prayer and forgive them.” And all of this, according to Solomon, was so that in the future when foreigners heard of what God had done they too will turn to God and pray. Solomon asked for all of this so that God’s name would be honored. In his prayer Solomon recognized that the key gaining God’s forgiveness and favor is turning to Him with our whole heart and soul, with nothing held back, begging to be allowed to do his will once more.