It's a Grand House.
The Berth and Beauty still holds a judgment.
We cannot escape the Eyes, the Heart of the God Who is and is to come.
God hears Solomon's prayer and responds: "I have consecrated this House" in I Kings 9:3. Only God can make a place holy. Only God can make our hearts holy. Living temples. He puts His Name, His Eyes, His Heart there perpetually. How beautiful is that to know this day.
And Solomon, "If you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, then I will establish your throne." I Kings 9:4. God knew. He perceived. He saw Solomon's heart.
And we know the rest of the story that Solomon would not repent (like his father did) of what is drawing him away from God---the love of this life. His father, David, broke in half when confronted with his sins...and David repented with great sorrow over the wrongs done before a Holy God. David did not live in guilt although forgiveness never took away David being a murderer, an adulterer. Forgiveness took away David's sentence, his guilt.
This "house is high"---I Kings 9:9--- but not out of reach of the Judgment of God. We will all give account. No one is out of His Reach. The grandeur, the splendor, the beauty cannot save the day. C.S. Lewis once said that prostitutes see a little more clearly, more quickly, than the proud and the mighty, the arrogant. Was Solomon full of himself? Am I? What's my bent? Bent on doing what I want to do. Bent on living like I want to live. Bent on being what I think is right.
PRAYER FROM PSALMS
23 Dear God,
Make firm our steps as we delight in You,
Though we may stumble and fall,
Uphold us with Your Hand.
Amen.
Psalm 37: 23-24
OVERVIEW: I Kings 8-9
Image: "Solomon's Stables Under the Platform" - P217, Oregon State University Archives, Corvallis, Oregon.
Like Solomon, we can dedicate ourselves to living for the Lord; serving His people. We can spend hours a day in the Word of God. We can pray simple prayers and magnificent benedictions, but if we do not confess our sin and turn away from the things of this world that draw us away from God, we will be far from Him just as Solomon was later in his life.
ReplyDeleteStuff gets in the way.
ReplyDelete1 Kings 8:61 "Let your heart therefore be wholly devoted to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as at this day.”
ReplyDeleteAll we have to deal with is this present moment.
ReplyDeleteWhat will we do with what stirs within?
I have so loved all of your posts this year.
Like reading this stuff for the first time.
Where have I been?
Could you read the post this morning. I couldn't on my phone. So I tried to click on html on blogger and it is okay now. Every time I post at home from my new MacBook Pro, it doesn't come through. What am I doing wrong?
ReplyDeleteI could not read it this morning, it was white lines. I clicked my mouse and scrolled down the post as if I was going to copy and paste, then I could read it.
ReplyDeleteBev, I was able to go in to the dashboard this morning and highlight the text, then turn off the formatting. I think it somehow is highlighting everything. I don't know why it's doing it, but I have a MacBook Pro. Do you use Chrome?
ReplyDelete