I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God.

 

Friday, September 8, 2023


Psalms 20; 21

1 Kings 5

Acts 25:13-27


Observance: Birth of Mary, Mother of the Lord


I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God.


How big do you dream?


Try this experiment on yourself: next time you are walking down the street, observe where your eye level sits. Do you watch your feet move around the cracks in the footpath? Do you do that trick where you stare blankly into the middle distance, so as to avoid making eye contact with passers-by? How do you think that relates to your spiritual aims, and the requests you make of God?


Solomon dreamt big. He knew perfectly well that the God of his nation was also the God of the entire universe. No house would be entirely suitable, nor appropriate. But by golly he was going to give it a red-hot go. And just look at how much work he put into it: an entire nation of people were hired to provide the best timber on the planet. His own nation too was put to work, either as stone masons, or out into the fields to get the food to pay the builders.


Paul was also building a house of God. But his labour was to be of the spiritual type. Pushing himself through this terrifying and stressful experience of which we have been reading, Paul is edging ever closer to the opportunity to preach the good news to the ruler of the known world.


To what do you aspire as a follower of Jesus? As we all chip in, building this kingdom of heaven, where are you scratching in your initials for future generations to see? Solomon intends to build a house for the name of the Lord our God. What do you intend to do?

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