Thurs.’s Devo - Solomon’s Days

Read: 2 Chronicles 6:12-8:10; Romans 7:14-8:8; Psalm 18:1-15; Proverbs 19:24-25 Solomon stood before the people with uplifted hands in prayer to the Lord. Then he knelt in front of the people and lifted his hands toward heaven and prayed for God to watch over this Temple, the place where God said he would put his name. Solomon prayed that God would hear the prayers of those made toward this place and forgive their sins. He prayed for God to be their judge over the righteous and the unrighteous. He prayed that if the nation turned its back on the Lord and then repented, God would hear and forgive them and heal them. He prayed that in times of drought and famine and war for God to forgive them and heal them. He prayed for God to hear the prayer of the foreigner . Then Solomon invited the Lord to enter the Temple and make it his resting place on the earth. Fire flashed down from heaven and burned up the burnt offerings and sacrifices and the presence of the Lord filled the Temple. The people fell on their faces and worshiped and praised the Lord saying, “He is good! His faithful love endures forever!” One hundred and forty-two sacrifices were made to the Lord while the Levites sang about God’s faithful love. Solomon consecrated the rental area of the courtyard in front of the Lord’s Temple with burnt offerings because the bronze altar couldn’t contain all the sacrifices offered. The celebration went on for seven days. They had a closing ceremony on the eighth day and everyone went home. They had come as far as Egypt. Solomon completed the Temple and his royal palace and one night God came to talk to him. God told Solomon that he had heard his prayers. The nation would see times when he would not bring rain and there would be famine and war because of their sins, but if they repented and turned back to him, he would forgive and heal them. If the people rejected him as their God, they would be uprooted from the land and the Temple would be destroyed and be an embarrassment to them. When people looked at it and wondered what happened to make their God destroy it, the answer will be that they abandoned the Lord and worshiped other gods instead. It took Solomon 20 years to build the Temple and his royal palace. Then Solomon built up other towns and supply centers. The aliens living with them were made to do the hard labor. These were the people that God had told them to destroy when they entered the land and they couldn’t. In Romans, Paul explains the power of sin in our body. But then he gives us the answer which is Jesus Christ. He has power over sin. Because we belong to him, his life-going Spirit has freed us from the power of sin that leads to death. God did what the law could not do. He sent his Son in a body like ours and in him God declared an end to sins’ control over us. Jesus gave his life as a sacrifice for our sins. So now, we no longer have to follow our sinful nature but can follow the Spirit. It is our choice. The sinful nature is in opposition to God and cannot obey God’s law but by the Spirit, we can live righteously and please God.