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Solomon Prays
(2 Chronicles 6.12-42)
22Solomon stood facing the altar with everyone standing behind him. Then he lifted his arms toward heaven 23and prayed:
Lord God of Israel, no other god in heaven or on earth is like you!
You never forget the agreement you made with your people, and you are loyal to anyone who faithfully obeys your teachings. 24My father David was your servant, and today you have kept every promise you made to him.
25 Lord God of Israel, you promised my father that someone from his family would always be king of Israel, if they do their best to obey you, just as he did. 26Please keep this promise you made to your servant David.
27 There's not enough room in all of heaven for you, Lord God. How could you possibly live on earth in this temple I have built? 28But I ask you to answer my prayer. 29 This is the temple where you have chosen to be worshiped. Please watch over it day and night and listen when I turn toward it and pray. 30I am your servant, and the people of Israel belong to you. So whenever any of us look toward this temple and pray, answer from your home in heaven and forgive our sins.
31Suppose someone accuses a person of a crime, and the accused has to stand in front of the altar in your temple and say, “I swear I am innocent!” 32Listen from heaven and decide who is right. Then punish the guilty person and let the innocent one go free.
33 Suppose your people Israel sin against you, and then an enemy defeats them. If they come to this temple and beg for forgiveness, 34listen from your home in heaven. Forgive them and bring them back to the land you gave their ancestors.
35Suppose your people sin against you, and you punish them by holding back the rain. If they turn toward this temple and pray in your name and stop sinning, 36listen from your home in heaven and forgive them. The people of Israel are your servants, so teach them to live right. And please send rain on the land you gave them to be theirs forever.
37Sometimes the crops may dry up or rot or be eaten by locusts or grasshoppers, and your people will be starving. Sometimes enemies may surround their towns, or your people will become sick with deadly diseases. 38Listen when anyone in Israel truly feels sorry and sincerely prays with arms lifted toward your temple. 39You know what is in everyone's heart. So from your home in heaven answer their prayers, according to the way they live and what is in their hearts. 40Then your people will worship and obey you for as long as they live in the land you gave their ancestors.
41-42Foreigners will hear about you and your mighty power, and some of them will come to live among your people Israel. If any of them pray toward this temple, 43listen from your home in heaven and answer their prayers. Then everyone on earth will worship you, just like your people Israel, and they will know that I have built this temple to honor you.
44Our Lord, sometimes you will order your people to attack their enemies. Then your people will turn toward this temple I have built for you in your chosen city, and they will pray to you. 45Answer their prayers from heaven and give them victory.
46Everyone sins. But when your people sin against you, suppose you get angry enough to let their enemies drag them away to foreign countries. 47-49Later, they may feel sorry for what they did and ask your forgiveness. Answer them when they pray toward this temple I have built for you in your chosen city, here in this land you gave their ancestors. From your home in heaven, listen to their sincere prayers and do what they ask. 50Forgive your people no matter how much they have sinned against you. Make the enemies who defeated them be kind to them. 51Remember, they are the people you chose and rescued from Egypt that was like a blazing fire to them.
52I am your servant, and the people of Israel belong to you. So listen when any of us pray and cry out for your help. 53When you brought our ancestors out of Egypt, you told your servant Moses to say to them, “From all people on earth, the Lord God has chosen you to be his very own.”
Solomon Blesses
54When Solomon finished his prayer at the altar, he was kneeling with his arms lifted toward heaven. He stood up, 55turned toward the people, blessed them, and said loudly:
56 Praise the Lord! He has kept his promise and given us peace. Every good thing he promised to his servant Moses has happened.
57The Lord our God was with our ancestors to help them, and I pray that he will be with us and never abandon us. 58May the Lord help us obey him and follow all the laws and teachings he gave our ancestors.
59I pray that the Lord our God will remember my prayer day and night. May he help everyone in Israel each day, in whatever way we need it. 60Then every nation will know that the Lord is the only true God.
61Obey the Lord our God and follow his commands with all your heart, just as you are doing today.
Reflect
After twenty years of continuous, arduous construction, Solomon dedicates the temple he has built for “The Name.” With pomp, circumstance, and thousands of blood sacrifices, he lifts his hands toward heaven in the midst of his people and prays a powerful prayer. Most powerful of all is what he says in the last few words of verse 27.
A literal reading in the Hebrew language says, “Behold the heavens and the heavens of heavens cannot contain you.” Solomon intuitively expressed one of the great aspects of the nature of God. Even while “present” in the temple, he is present in the heavens and beyond. He is limitless. There is no containing him. He lives in and beyond the clouds.
J.B.Phillips wrote a book years ago entitled, “Your God Is Too Small.” So true for all of us. We tend to think of prayer as a wish-list, or needs-list, with God as our celestial errand boy. In other words, he’s there to serve us. We speak of him glibly, casually, too easily. We forget that he “holds the keys of life and death.” We thoughtlessly sin, and when and if we are made aware of our transgression, we see him as a grandfatherly figure, stroking his beard, saying, “Well, boys will be boys.” We don’t take him seriously.
God is big – VERY big. And we are small – VERY small. This is serious stuff. Our Creator is not to be taken lightly.
Respond
Help me O Lord, to never forget that my life is in your hands.
Jim Cantelon
Pastor, author, church-planter, Christian television and radio personality, Jim Cantelon is founder and President of WOW – Working for Orphans & Widows, a Federal Charity whose mission is to empower the local church in sub-Saharan Africa and southern India in the care of the sick and the dying. Currently Jim produces and hosts a national television show called “Jim Cantelon Today” which focuses on biblical exposition with a contemporary, ‘user friendly’ approach. In conjunction with JCT, he has written a newly published book entitled “Cantelon’s Casual Commentary – a 21st Century guide to the life of Jesus for the internet generation”.