05.04.2014 Old Testament: 1Ki 8.22–24

To read the Bible in a year, read First Kings 8–9 on May 4, In the year of our Lord 2014

By Don Ruhl

Finally, David’s dream of a temple for the Lord God of Israel was completed by Solomon, but before services started there, King Solomon offered a magnificent prayer,

Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven; and he said: “Lord God of Israel, there is no God in heaven above or on earth below like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts. You have kept what You promised Your servant David my father; You have both spoken with Your mouth and fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day” (1 Kings 8.22–24). 

What excitement must have filled the air that day! Solomon fulfilled the wish and dream of his father, and most of all he had built a magnificent temple for the God of heaven, and so to begin the prayer he spread out his hands toward heaven and magnified the great God who ruled over Israel and who rules over all of us today!