SCRIPTURE: 1 Kings 9 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: As for you, if you walk before me in integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, `You shall never fail…
celebrating God in me!
SCRIPTURE: 1 Kings 8 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! [1 Kings 8:27] God cannot be contained by a temple, Solomon knows this. But he also knows that God chooses to reveal Himself powerfully, and personally, through His covenant bond…
God’s splendour and ours
SCRIPTURE: 1 Kings 7 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. [Matthew 6:28-29] Solomon in all his splendour! When I read 1 Kings 7, I am struck…
heart of the matter
SCRIPTURE: 1 Kings 6 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: 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.” [1 Kings 6:12-13]…
Solomon’s temple
Here is a drawing of Solomon’s temple. I find it helpful to see an artist rendering as I read the description of it’s construction [1 Kings 6].
a living sanctuary
SCRIPTURE: 1 Kings 5 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: I intend, therefore, to build a temple for the Name of the LORD my God, as the LORD told my father David, when he said, `Your son whom I will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my Name.’ [1 Kings 5:5] A permanent, fixed temple was not God’s…
wisdom seekers
SCRIPTURE: 1 Kings 4 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore; they ate, they drank and they were happy. [1 Kings 4:20] This describes the blessing God promised Abraham: I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand…
a theological headache
I am feeling sick. Its all in my head, really. A persistent headache since I woke up this morning. I’ve slept most of the day. So much for my new year’s resolution to enjoy each day to the fullest. How does one enjoy a headache? How does a Jesus-follower experience a headache differently? Is it…
prayer for 2010
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not…
wisdom AND strength
SCRIPTURE: 1 Kings 3 OBSERVATION/APPLICATION: Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for–both riches and honour–so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. [1 Kings 3:13] In this passage we see the young king making shrewd political alliances (through his marriage to Pharaoh’s daughter, he secures his southern border from attack). But…