Today in God's Word—February 2023
East Tallassee Church of Christ
February 16, 2 Chronicles 6
Whatever prayer, whatever plea is made by any man or by all your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own sorrow and stretching out his hands toward this house, then hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways, for you, you only, know the hearts of the children of mankind.” - 2 Chronicles 6:29-30
As we age and the pace of daily life slows, we may look back over our lives and our careers and remember the high points, the bright moments we experienced over the past decades. We might regale a visitor with stories about how strong we used to be, how much money we made, when we scored the winning points in a close game or won that pageant. Memory is a blessing, especially if our memories are filled with events that were bright and pleasant.
If you reviewed the high points of your life, what would you remember as your spiritual bright, shining moment? Maybe you'd fondly recall the first time you really heard and understood the gospel, applying the good news to yourself in a personal way. Maybe you remember the day you were baptized into Christ. I sincerely hope that you and I could point to even brighter, more meaningful moments later in life as well. As we grow in grace and knowledge, as our faith increases, we should have brighter moments and higher points in our spiritual journey.
If there was a bright shining moment of Solomon's spiritual life, surely this was it. His beautiful prayer of dedication at the new temple is a masterpiece of soaring eloquence and reverent beauty. He magnified God's majesty and praised his faithfulness. He appealed to God to hear the prayers directed toward this place and to forgive the sins of the people when they turned from their sins. He pleaded with God to bless and protect the people in their struggles and conflicts with their enemies. He
petitioned the Lord to hear the cries of his people when they were taken as captives to a foreign land, suffering the consequences of rebellion against God. He even took a broader view of the Lord's graciousness, extending beyond the borders of Israel, to hear and forgive even foreigners who turned to God through this place of intercession.
Solomon's prayer showed that he viewed his new temple as a place of mediation and intercession between a holy God and his people. I’m so glad that you and I know from the New Testament that the real mediation took place in a person, not a place. Our mediator is Jesus Christ, and he has done all that Solomon asked God to do, and more. Our access to God and our acceptance with God is through Jesus. Through him our prayers are heard and our sins are forgiven by his atoning blood.
Solomon would not have known about any of that. Yet his prayer is still a wonderful model and primer for us about several aspects of acceptable prayer. His prayer was worshipful, glorifying God. He was the king, but he bowed his knee in reverence as he prayed to God. His prayer was confessional. He acknowledged their sinfulness and need for forgiveness. We may hide (or at least think we do) our sins from the people around us, but we cannot hide them from our all-seeing, all-knowing God.
And his prayer acknowledged the need for mediation between sinful human beings and holy God. We are blessed today to know his name is Jesus, and to pray to our father in his mighty name to receive the blessings Solomon asked for that day.
Copyright © 2023 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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