Saturday, March 13, 2010

1 Kings 8:22-53 (Good News Translation)

Embodying Hope and Turning to God in Prayer

Introduction

1 Kings 8:22-53: Solomon continues to pray. He praises God for keeping promises and asks for God's blessing upon the Temple. He asks for God's justice and forgiveness. He requests that God hears the prayers of foreigners. Then he affirms that he is God's servant and that the people of Israel are God's people.

Today's Scripture: 1 Kings 8:52

"Sovereign LORD, may you always look with favor on your people Israel and their king, and hear their prayer whenever they call to you for help."

Today's Reading

²²Then in the presence of the people Solomon went and stood in front of the altar, where he raised his arms ²³and prayed, “ LORD God of Israel, there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below! You keep your covenant with your people and show them your love when they live in wholehearted obedience to you. ²⁴You have kept the promise you made to my father David; today every word has been fulfilled. ²⁵And now, LORD God of Israel, I pray that you will also keep the other promise you made to my father when you told him that there would always be one of his descendants ruling as king of Israel, provided they obeyed you as carefully as he did. ²⁶So now, O God of Israel, let everything come true that you promised to my father David, your servant. ²⁷But can you, O God, really live on earth? Not even all of heaven is large enough to hold you, so how can this Temple that I have built be large enough? ²⁸LORD my God, I am your servant. Listen to my prayer, and grant the requests I make to you today. ²⁹Watch over this Temple day and night, this place where you have chosen to be worshiped. Hear me when I face this Temple and pray. ³⁰Hear my prayers and the prayers of your people when they face this place and pray. In your home in heaven hear us and forgive us. ³¹When a person is accused of wronging another and is brought to your altar in this Temple to take an oath that he is innocent, ³²O LORD, listen in heaven and judge your servants. Punish the guilty one as he deserves, and acquit the one who is innocent. ³³When your people Israel are defeated by their enemies because they have sinned against you, and then when they turn to you and come to this Temple, humbly praying to you for forgiveness, ³⁴listen to them in heaven. Forgive the sins of your people and bring them back to the land which you gave to their ancestors. ³⁵When you hold back the rain because your people have sinned against you, and then when they repent and face this Temple, humbly praying to you, ³⁶listen to them in heaven. Forgive the sins of the king and of the people of Israel, and teach them to do what is right. Then, O LORD, send rain on this land of yours, which you gave to your people as a permanent possession. ³⁷When there is famine in the land or an epidemic or the crops are destroyed by scorching winds or swarms of locusts, or when your people are attacked by their enemies, or when there is disease or sickness among them, ³⁸listen to their prayers. If any of your people Israel, out of heartfelt sorrow, stretch out their hands in prayer toward this Temple, ³⁹hear their prayer. Listen to them in your home in heaven, forgive them, and help them. You alone know the thoughts of the human heart. Deal with each person as he deserves, ⁴⁰so that your people may obey you all the time they live in the land which you gave to our ancestors. ^41-42When a foreigner who lives in a distant land hears of your fame and of the great things you have done for your people and comes to worship you and to pray at this Temple, ⁴³listen to his prayer. In heaven, where you live, hear him and do what he asks you to do, so that all the peoples of the world may know you and obey you, as your people Israel do. Then they will know that this Temple I have built is the place where you are to be worshiped. ⁴⁴When you command your people to go into battle against their enemies and they pray to you, wherever they are, facing this city which you have chosen and this Temple which I have built for you, ⁴⁵listen to their prayers. Hear them in heaven and give them victory. ⁴⁶When your people sin against you—and there is no one who does not sin—and in your anger you let their enemies defeat them and take them as prisoners to some other land, even if that land is far away, ⁴⁷listen to your people's prayers. If there in that land they repent and pray to you, confessing how sinful and wicked they have been, hear their prayers, O LORD. ⁴⁸If in that land they truly and sincerely repent and pray to you as they face toward this land which you gave to our ancestors, this city which you have chosen, and this Temple which I have built for you, ⁴⁹then listen to their prayers. In your home in heaven hear them and be merciful to them. ⁵⁰Forgive all their sins and their rebellion against you, and make their enemies treat them with kindness. ⁵¹They are your own people, whom you brought out of Egypt, that blazing furnace. ⁵²Sovereign LORD, may you always look with favor on your people Israel and their king, and hear their prayer whenever they call to you for help. ⁵³You chose them from all the peoples to be your own people, as you told them through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt. ”

Reflect

Reread 8:39. Here, Solomon's understanding is that God looks at people's motives as well as their actions. This is similar to the message the prophet Jeremiah would later give the people of Israel and Judah about a new agreement, one in which the LORD would write his laws on people's hearts and minds (Jeremiah 31:31-34). Why do people's motives matter?

Pray

Lord God of All, there is no god like you in heaven above or on earth below! You keep your covenant with your people and show them your love. Thank you for keeping your promises and for loving us. Amen.

Prayer Concern

Victims of identity theft