The sunset is very light in colour the further away you look from the sun’s point. At the suns point it is a deep red, then orange and yellow as you work away from this point. Opposite the sunset you will find a very faded but subtle colour of pink changing to a blue.
27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built! 28 Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You today: 29 that Your eyes may be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes toward this place. 30 And may You hear the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear in heaven Your dwelling place; and when You hear, forgive.
I wonder whether God was smiling when Solomon was saying this prayer. When he asked the question, will God indeed dwell on earth? We all know the answer, Yes, in Jesus Christ our Lord.
But I’ve been dwelling on the temple today. Something that jumps out is that there are three distinct sections. The outer courtyard, the Temple or Holy place, and within the Holy of Holies.
The Lord shows us his glory awaiting us, and yet we still follow the beckoning of earthly desires. The laws are very easily understood – in fact the only thing that is in the ark which is within the Holy of Holies is the stone tablets which have the ten commandments. They are commandments and yet we still joke about them, like we can kid God, like we can argue with him that we weren’t really breaking the commandment, just bending it.
They are set in stone!
That also makes me think, does God punish us here and now? Sometimes I do wonder whether God has set before me all his glory that he wants me to reach out and touch, but I am just gazing at it with out even lifting a finger, am I really making a difference? Out of all the apostles I do wonder about Judas Iscariot. Was he much different from us all? God asks us to do things for him, but in the end we just turn our back on him.
Do we feel sometimes like we are in the outer courtyard screaming at the top of our voices, and yet we have been asked to go within the Holy of holies. I feel tonight I am in the outer courtyard.
Dear Lord, forgive my foolish ways.
Forgive my laziness to act for you.
Forgive my inability to be bold.
Forgive me for being selfish.
Forgive me for being conceited.
Forgive me for being full of complaint.
Forgive my foolish ways
I pray do not take your Holy Spirit from me, but forgive
and allow me to be once more within your Holy of Holies,
within each of us with your Holy Spirit listening to your Word, from the Father.
Amen
365 Exhortations 