2 Chronicles 6:18-21 ( ESV )
18“But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven
and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have
built!
19Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to
the prayer that your servant prays before you,
20that your eyes may be open day and night toward this house, the
place where you have promised to set your name, that you may listen to the
prayer that your servant offers toward this place.
21And listen to the pleas of your servant and of your people Israel,
when they pray toward this place. And listen from heaven your dwelling place,
and when you hear, forgive.
It
was one of his Father’s greatest desires. His Daddy though would not able to
build it or see it brought to its completion. Yet, he gathered the materials
for his son to be able to build it. He shared his dream with his son and knew that
his God would allow him to build it.
David
instilled in to his son the fact that the temple could not contain God in all
of His glory. We know this to be true as Solomon would repeat this thought in 2
Chronicles 6:18. His glory could not be kept or held captive by no man. God is
not confined by any object or any man. They knew that Heaven was the dwelling
place of God in verse 21 and even that was too small to hold Him. He is after all, The Great I am.
No
what David and Solomon wanted was a place where God’s people and servants could
worship. The temple would be a place where they could cry out to their God, and
He would hear them. The temple would be a place where they could go to Him and
sense His presence. Their desire was to have a place where they could be
intimate with their God.
Solomon and the people of Israel would build such a place. They now
assembled as a group on this glorious day of dedication. How would Solomon talk
with his people on this special day? Unlike other kings and politicians after
him, he would start the ceremony with prayer. He wanted to set the tone right
off the bat that this place would be a House of Prayer. A place where one could
meet and talk with God.
The
thing that blesses my heart the most through Solomon’s prayer is this one
repeated line. “Then hear from heaven
and forgive.” This is repeated six
times throughout Solomon’s prayer. Look at the following verses…2 Chronicles 6:21,
23, 25, 27, 30. And 39. He also pleads for the foreigner who calls out to God
that God will hear them from heaven His dwelling place. He also prays that as
God’s people go out to war that He will hear from heaven and maintain their
cause.
We as
a people should be marked as those who say, “Then hear from heaven and forgive.”
I pray this prayer daily to our God. Lord I need forgiveness. If you’re like
me, you need forgiveness constantly. Sometimes I wonder why He would even hear
me. How many times will I blow it? How many times will I fail to walk with the
one who loves me the most?
Here
is the blessing for you and me. The new temple where God also chooses to dwell
is within the heart of the believer. He still cannot be contained by either you
or me but He willingly wants to dwell within us. What an amazing and incomprehensible
thought. Like Solomon before us we can still cry out to our God and say, “Hear
from heaven and forgive.” This same God will do it even though we do not even
deserve His presence. He lovingly as our Father hears and forgives.
How
do I know this to be true? Look at 2 Chronicles 7:1-3 for your answer. This is
what happened after Solomon had prayed.
2 Chronicles 7:1-3 ( ESV )
1As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven
and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
2And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house.
3When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory
of the Lord on the temple, they
bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and
gave thanks to the Lord, saying,
“For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”
No
matter where you are going or where you have been we have a God who hears and
forgives. He wants His glory to fill our lives. He wants to forgive us and
allow His fire to come down and purge us and cleanse us. He wants to forgive us
so that His glory maybe shown. Why does He hear us? “For He is good, for His
steadfast love endures forever.”
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