Sun.’s Devo - Seeing the Bigger Picture

Read: 1 Kings 5:1-6:38; Acts 7:1-29; Psalm 127:1-5; Proverbs 16:28-30
David in his God-given wisdom knew how to use his enemies for good. They served him. Hiram was the king of Tyre and David had had a good relationship with him so he passed it down to Solomon. Solomon made a deal with Hiram to supply him with wood to build the kingdom and in return he would give Hiram food. It worked perfectly. Then, Solomon used the people who they had taken from enemy nations as booty to be his forced labor. They worked at importing and exporting supplies and building the temple. We are to do the same in the spirit.
We can use what the enemy plans for harm, for our good. We can command the enemy to be our slaves and work for us. We can turn our weaknesses into our strengths through Jesus.
It took Solomon seven and a half years to build the temple. It was to look like the garden of Eden on the inside with flowers and cherubim and palm trees carved on the walls and doors. They were all overlaid with gold to show the glory of the place. It was heaven come down to earth in a physical expression.
Everything about the temple was a spiritual picture. The windows were wide on the inside but narrow on the outside which doesn’t make much sense if you want to see outside, but perfect sense if you want to see inside. The levels got bigger and bigger as you went up, indicating that revelation is greater at every level. There is always more, the higher you go with the Lord. The closer we get to heaven, the more things there are to learn and know and experience.
Even the wood he used had meaning. He saved the cedar wood for the holiest place where the ark would rest. Cedar wood is scented the heaviest of all wood. The aroma of God is tangible.
In Acts, Stephen was asked if the accusations about him were true. Was histeaching contrary to Moses’ law? Stephen was able to give them an account of their national history starting with Abraham. Abraham was called by God out of a heathen nation to be the father of God’s people. God sent him to Canaan and gave him the covenant of circumcism. He also gave him an heir which was Isaac. Isaac had Jacob who was the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph was one of his sons that God picked out of the twelve to preserve the family. He sent him to Egypt to find favor and bring his family there to escape the famine. They prospered until a king came to power who didn’t know the story of Joseph. He only saw a people that were growing so rapidly they proposed a threat to Egypt’s kingdom. He abused them and made the Israelites his slaves. This went on for years until the people’s cry reached God’s ears. God sent Moses to deliver them. Moses was saved from slaughter by the daughter of the Pharaoh of Egypt. When Moses was 40 years old, he decided to visit his Hebrew brothers and witnessed their abusive slavery. He killed an Egyptian who was mercilessly killing a Hebrew and had to flee for his life. He ended up in Midian and had two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh.
In Acts, Stephen was building up to the story of Jesus. It was the culmination of their history. Everything in their past was leading up to their very day when the Messiah would come again to earth.
Lord, help us not to be afraid of what the devil or the world can do to us. They can take our physical bodies but they can not take our souls. Help us to see with open eyes because in your sanctuary the vision is bigger and much higher.