Where God’s name will be

Happy are those who live in your house,

Ever singing your praise. Psalm 84:4

 

Read 1 Kings 8:22—30

Not everything Solomon did is a great example for me to follow, but how he prayed on the occasion of the dedication of the Temple is. It’s all there. When he makes his request to God he dwells on who God really is. In fact, by way of request, he presses in on God to hold to God’s own promise. It’s not about what Solomon wants. Or only if what Solomon wants is what God has committed himself to. This is Biblical prayer. When I do that I am revelling in what God has done. I rehearse his activity, his saving actions, his favour toward me and his promise to me. I tell God’s story back to him. God is pleased for me to be pleased with him. For Solomon God’s name, our meeting place with God, rested on the Temple. For the Christian, the Temple has come to its final conclusion in Christ.[1] It is Jesus who is the meeting place with God. His is the name I name before God.[2] He is the one I call on. He is the one where God comes himself to meet me.

Prayer
O Lord, God of our Lord Jesus Christ, you have declared yourself to be Father, his Father and my Father.[3] He is your promise to me. His is the story I have to tell, even to you. You are my Father because you are first of all his Father, and the Spirit who came upon him at his baptism has been granted to me. Therefore I echo Jesus when I call you Father. In his name I come before you, a beloved child. He is my meeting place with you. He is the place of festival, of the celebration of all the works of God. He is my offering to you.

 

 

 

[1] John 2:19—21

[2] Acts 3:6,16; 4:12

[3] John 20:17