May 19 – 26

As we continue our journey through the Bible with Cover to Cover, I find myself still thinking about David and his legacy. I remember God’s promise to his servant, and I remember David’s imperfect self, and I ask why David found such favor. I am reminded of Moses and his imperfections, and yet God chose Moses very similarly to David. Both had God’s favor resting on them all the days of their lives. It may be presumptuous to assume we even can know why, but for a seeker like myself, I want that kind of favor. Both David and Moses were forgiven from serious sin. So am I. Both David and Moses were given important jobs in God’s kingdom. So am I, not in the same way, but I have important work to do for Him. Both David and Moses were servant leaders who sought the Lord, and never ever forgot that God was in charge of both the good and the difficult times. Here is where the similarities end: I forget sometimes and see the circumstances as something I am supposed to solve. Both David and Moses asked God for specific direction and both seemed to grasp God’s greatness better than most. If I am to know God like that, I must acknowledge that greatness over every area of my life. I must seek Him when I turn left or right—in every detail. I don’t expect to be a David or Moses, but God’s favor certainly is over each of our lives who serve Him. His Grace alone in each day as well as eternally blesses each moment, remolding the moments to look more eternal.

There was a long pause in history, as God’s blessing seemed farther away. It had been four hundred and eighty years since the Glory of God dwelt among men in a visible presence. Four hundred and eighty years after the Israelites had come out of Egypt, the Lord once again showed Himself in fullness—”Shekinah” glory. Fulfilling the promise He made to David, Solomon built the temple for the Lord. Approximately twenty-four generations later, God once again dwelt with His people. Did He need a house? What were God’s requirements? Only a holy place? Certainly, nothing could enclose God. No mountain high enough could contain the glory of God. I love it when the verses said, “and His glory filled the temple, so the priests couldn’t do their work.” Isn’t that funny? God’s presence was so thick, so “everywhere,” nobody could see anything. None could work. He was all over them and they were absolutely slain, bowing deeply, saying,

“He is good. His love endures forever.” 2 Chronicles 7:3

In His presence, what more is there to do or say? Nothing but love exists. Nothing but His Glory. We must only bow deeply in reverence and awe as we come before Him, knowing only He is good and is everlasting Love Himself.

Scriptures that stood out this week:
1 Kings 3:5 “At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

Solomon asks in verse 9, “So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For, who is able to govern this great people of yours?” In verse 10-12 , “The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. “So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.”

1 Kings 6:1 “In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the Lord.”

In verse 12-13, the word of the Lord came to Solomon, “As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, carry out my regulations and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father. And I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel.”

Psalm 127:1 “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain.”

1 Kings 8:10-11 “When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple.

1 Kings 8:22 “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. 24 You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today.”

Solomon’s Blessing to the People of Israel
1 Kings 8:56-61 “Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses. May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers; may he never leave us nor forsake us. May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep the commands, decrees and regulations he gave our fathers. And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day’s need, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other. But your hearts must be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.”

2 Chronicles 7:3 “When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, He is good, his love endures forever.