1 Chronicles 22:5, 19 “The house that is to be built for the Lord shall be exceedingly magnificent, famous and glorious throughout all lands. . . . Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God; arise, therefore, and build the sanctuary of the Lord God.”
Observation: David is nearing the end of his life, and has undertaken a massive project of gathering supplies and making tools that will be needed in building the house of God. Here he is charging his son Solomon with the vision and purpose of the project, passing the mantle to him. More soaring words for David’s vision could hardly be found: magnificent, famous, and glorious.
Application: Whenever I read about the magnificence, the glory, of Solomon’s temple, I am reminded of the parallel: that today I am the temple of God. He comes to me with an offer to make all things new that are old, to make all things clean that are dirty, so the glory of His presence might shine from me to be seen by all.
What an awesome exchange—from darkness to light. I love these verses in 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13: “May the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, . . . so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God.” Catch the connection here: increasing and abounding in love results in unblamable holiness! That’s what God is after. That’s what He desires—that this temple, the “me” that I present to Him at the end of this deal, would be famous for holiness.
It can only happen as a result of love…love manifested by obedience. David told his son to set his heart to seek God and build His sanctuary. David knew he was going to create a building from which the glory of God would emanate. So it is for me. As I allow God to do repeated heart surgery on me, then His love and glory are able to shine forth, and I take on, little by little, more of His attribute of holiness.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are building this temple, this place inside me from which You are to shine. My prayer is that You would do all that needs to be done in me to shine forth holiness to those around. I ask You, Lord, to work on every smudge, every stain, that might dim Your light. I pray that Your magnificence and glory might shine through me, a bright and shining flame for all to see.