February 16, 2025
Passage Read: 1 Kings 6-9
Meditation Verse: 8:53
Thought
Did Solomon understand that the Lord's intent was not simply to single out the Israelites and make them His own people, and exclude all the rest? God made all people and deserves the worship of all His creation. But people in that day and perhaps still today think that each people group has its own god, and you're not supposed to exchange gods. A people belongs to their god and a god to their own people. It seems that even when one nation conquered another, they didn't force them to give up their gods. When Assyria deported all the conquered nations to Israel, they brought their gods with them--and discovered they'd have to placate the God of Israel, in whose land they were now living. That seemed like a new thing. So Solomon seems to have a similar understanding, as if God only wants the Israelites and no others.
Application
Solomon understands that God is too big to actually dwell in the temple he built, but he didn't seem to understand that the Israelites are also too small a nation for God's glory. He's bigger than that. He needs way more people worshiping Him than the Israelites could ever be. But they missed that idea, that desire of God, though it shows up many times in different ways throughout the Old Testament. They fell into the trap of thinking God was all about them and that was it. So they had little compassion or interest in turning others to Him. It is still easy to fall into that same trap and end up living for ourselves, thinking God is all about blessing us and unconcerned about the rest of the world. That's a selfish position, thinking only of us. True love and understanding of God recognizes that no matter how many people truly worship Him, it is still far too small a number and others need to be gathered to Him. That's concern for God over self, secure in the promises God has given those He loves. There are still so many who have little or no chance to hear the truth about God. If I can be a part of taking the gospel to them, great. If I can be a part of preparing others to take the gospel to them, that's good too. But to live out my days with minimal or no concern for the increasing glory of God among all nations, that's a selfish waste of my days.