God's Temples

Good Morning,

2 Chronicles 7:12-15 (New International Version)
the LORD appeared to him (Solomon) at night and said:
"I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.
"When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.
2 Chronicles 7:12-15 (The Message)
God appeared to Solomon that very night and said, "I accept your prayer; yes, I have chosen this place as a temple for sacrifice, a house of worship. If I ever shut off the supply of rain from the skies or order the locusts to eat the crops or send a plague on my people, and my people, my God-defined people, respond by humbling themselves, praying, seeking my presence, and turning their backs on their wicked lives, I'll be there ready for you: I'll listen from heaven, forgive their sins, and restore their land to health. From now on I'm alert day and night to the prayers offered at this place.
2 Chronicles 7:12-15 (New Living Translation)
Then one night the Lord appeared to Solomon and said,
“I have heard your prayer and have chosen this Temple as the place for making sacrifices. At times I might shut up the heavens so that no rain falls, or command grasshoppers to devour your crops, or send plagues among you. Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to every prayer made in this place.

I know that many of us, if not all of us, are aware of this section of Scripture. At least we know, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." We, pretty much all congregations of believers, have read these words, heard them preached, and studied various lessons about this section of Scripture many times. We know that God is ready and willing to hear our prayers; to hear the prayers of ALL believers in our land and, therefore, ready to do as He promised and heal our land. He tells us clearly that His eyes will be open and His ears attentive to our prayers "offered in this place."

That, you see, is what God is speaking to me about today. Not so much the fact that we are to humble ourselves and pray; not that He will hear us...but He's speaking in my mind about "this place" where we gather to offer our prayers.

This is a section of Scripture that points out the importance of "this place" that we read here in these verses. "This place" I believe, is really MANY places and ALL are equally important. These places are our many and varied congregations, those places where we meet to worship each week or more often. Just as God spoke to Solomon about choosing for Himself "this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices" so also, I firmly believe and hear clearly, that He has chosen those places we gather, those places we call our churches, for Himself. He has chosen these places as the places where His eyes are always open and His ears always attentive to the prayers offered in them.

Sometimes we wonder about the importance and value of our congregational meeting places. What we read today should reinforce our concepts and beliefs about why they should have such significance in our lives.

Now, something else that we need to think about is HOW we use our temples, these houses of worship that we've built. Jesus told us, "The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,'but you have turned it into a den of thieves." (Mark 11:17 (NLT) This, then...being a house of prayer...should be our emphasis as to how we go about using our church buildings, our temples, our houses of worship. Somehow, though, too often is seems, we've converted these places into, if not a "den of thieves" that Jesus spoke of, then something other than the house of prayer which they ought to be.

Yes, we DO need to turn to God in all humility and pray. That goes without saying, I think. But we also need to pay attention to the context and meaning of entire sections of Scripture so we will more fully understand what God is telling us through them.

Today we have a couple of lessons to learn. I pray that we will all learn them.

Love, peace, and blessings,

David