Seeking God in 1 KINGS

“And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord.” 1 KINGS 6:1

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hy judge the Israelites for the time it took them to honor God by building His temple? They endured all kinds of trouble. They were busy conquering the Promised Land. Finally, after the man of war, the one after God’s heart –David- got rid of their enemies, his son Solomon ruled in peace, and the Israelites had a chance to build the temple. Without peace no one can build anything. War is for destruction, peace for building. Solomon later wrote in Ecclesiastes there is a time for everything.

It took the Israelites 480 years to build the Lord’s temple after He delivered them from slavery in Egypt. How long will it take you and I to build His temple in our hearts? Will we rush to honor Him after we have witnessed the miracle-working power of His majesty? Will it take us a lifetime of skepticism and loveless living before we surrender to a love of such magnitude? Yes. God feels...we are created in his image. He feels our pain and our sorrows, our joy and our longings. How long before we become His temple? The place where He dwells…the dwelling place of the Most High, what does it mean to dwell?

The Lord means to inhabit our lives, not to be just a visitor on Sundays, or in the day of trouble. Why invite Him to dwell within us only to turn away from Him whenever our whimsical desires dictate? David pleased the Lord in that his human heart wanted, above all else, to stay in the presence of God. The magnitude of our love determines the splendor of the inner temple we build for His presence… be there perpetually.