2 Chronicles 6:18-19 “Will God indeed dwell with mankind on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You; how much less this house which I have built. Yet have regard to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You.”
Observation: Solomon’s temple had been built and the dedication ceremony was under way. In this Scripture reading, Solomon gave voice to one of the profound conundrums of the God we worship: He is so great that all of heaven, even the highest heaven, cannot contain Him. Yet Solomon had complete confidence that this God of unimaginable magnificence would hear his individual prayers and that He would in the future also hear the prayers of all who call upon Him.
Application: I wonder if I sometimes fail to pray because I don’t see God as one who is intimately concerned with me? He is so big, so majestic, so far “out there” that I sometimes suspect that He would never be inclined to tune into “just me.”
Yet Solomon was so confident in God’s desire for intimacy that He also wrote verses 29-30: “Whatever prayer or supplication is made by any man or by all Your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own pain, and spreading his hands toward this house, then hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and forgive, and render to each according to his ways, whose heart You know, for You alone know the hearts of the sons of men.”
Fully assured of God’s desire for intimacy with His people, I ought to pray constantly about everything. He sees far beyond my perception, and so will reward in ways I can only begin to imagine.
Prayer: Father, forgive me for being prayerless so much of the time. Your desire for intimacy was so great that You sent Your Son to establish relationship with me, yet so often I rely on the ritual of the church rather than quietly place myself at the foot of the Cross. Thank You, Lord, that I no longer pray toward a building made by men, but have now become the dwelling place for God Himself. It is astounding to realize that You know my pain and my affliction. Hear my prayer today, Lord, and cause me to come to You continually.