Can life get any better than this?
Every day we’re asking four questions about part of the Bible. Today Bern Leckie answers:
What did I like about today’s passage?
It’s such a joyfest. I am loving starting the week with a look at the things God gave to Israel to promote closeness and faithfulness working at their best. God’s glory filling the temple makes it unmistakably a place for him to work, not just a product of human labour. Can you imagine how much food they offered, burned, breathed in and feasted upon in their weeks of worship? As we’ll see soon, this was very hard work for Israel, but meeting God and celebrating his presence and power made people “joyful and glad in their heart for the good things the Lord had done.”
At this high point of faithfulness, I love how God appeared and renewed his covenant agreement with Solomon. God promised blessings and healing when people sought him. The ruin he promised for unfaithfulness would have been uncomfortably familiar for the first audience of Chronicles; it was put together for people reassembling after exile.
So, it’s worth remembering that everyone hearing this knew that things would go wrong. They were experiencing the aftermath of failure to be faithful. To them, all of this richness and Solomon’s wisdom must have seemed mythical, almost unimaginably good. With their former city in ruins and frenemies on every side, was there any prospect for them to equal the temple’s splendour or Solomon’s wisdom? And if not, why spend time on these stories?
It’s worth taking a closer look at Solomon here. It’s clearly an idealised account we are getting. We know from other stories and his own writing that he struggled to make sense of life, even with his God-given wisdom. Yet here he is, being a prophet, priest and king. No-one has all of that together except… Are we looking a balanced, true reflection of the past, or a promise for the future?
What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?
God loves to meet and bless his people. He loves it when we use the things he has given us constructively and creatively, for the benefit of society, and he can do amazing things with faithful people who listen to him, follow his instructions or turn to him after messing up.
He also wants us to know how incredible life can be when we are in good relationship with him. So Solomon was inspired to set a good example, and the Spirit seems to have inspired this account which shows his “best of the best” moments. It’s motivational, full of hope.
God may not fulfil our hopes with the same kind of material blessings Solomon enjoyed. But he delivers more than anyone expected with a prophet-priest-king-saviour in Jesus.
What am I going to do differently as a result?
I need to compare the hopes I have for material blessings and comfort with the promises delivered by Jesus and the Spirit through forgiveness and spiritual fruit like love, joy and peace. I’ve been very grateful for patience while our house gets sorted out. More please!
Who am I going to share this with?
My family and other people I pray with.