Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 8.

I love Solomon’s prayer of dedication for the temple.  He starts by proclaiming that God had kept the promise He had made to David by saying “with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it.”  Solomon then goes on to pray that God keep His other promises to David, using this one promise which had already been fulfilled as an example for those listening to hope and believe that He would fulfill the rest of those promises.  Solomon goes on to request that when people pray towards his temple that God would hear from heaven, and when He hears forgive them.  In his prayer, Solomon describes various bad circumstances people may place themselves in and He asks God that when His people turn to Him that He will hear them and forgive them.  Further, Solomon asks that when those who are not yet His people turn to Him and call on His name that He will hear them and forgive.  Solomon’s wish and prayer was that all the peoples of the earth would know and fear God.  In building the temple, Solomon sought to glorify God before all of the peoples of the world, so that they too might know that there is no other God.  I, and hopefully you, are evidence that God answered Solomon’s prayer in the fact that we fear and worship the God to whom Solomon prayed.  Let us likewise seek to cause others to turn to God and beg His forgiveness.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.