King Solomon was the one that built
the first Temple to God. As we've seen last week, King David wanted
to build the Temple to God, but God said no, Solomon will. So David
started preparing for the building of the Temple. He helped Solomon
by collecting a vast number of materials as we have seen last
week.
God wanted Solomon to build Him a
Temple. And Solomon was obedient and followed God's instructions
and God was mightily with him. All the material was collected by
his father David before he died, so there was no need to scramble
to find material. Then the timber - cedar and cypress - was sent to
Solomon without delay by King Hiram (1 Kings 5:7-9). There were no
issues concerning that. The laborers working on the Temple were 183
600 people. There were 30 000 laborers enlisted in Israel,
70 000 common laborers, 80 000 stone cutters and
3 600 foremen (1 Kings 5:13-18). Can you imagine organizing,
instructing and overseeing so many people without today's
technology? It must have been a massive task. And yet there were no
issues with that either. God was with them and helped with all the
detail. He even sent skilled workers to help with the more
difficult work of designing the furniture.
The Temple took 7 years to build.
Seven is also a significant number in the Bible, symbolic of the
full presence of the sevenfold Spirit of God and also relates to
perfection. His Temple was perfect and filled with His Spirit as we
will see next week.
The fact of the matter is, God
orchestrated everything for the building of His Temple and helped
that it ran smoothly. Solomon merely had to be willing to be used
for this task. God in actual fact built the Temple, not Solomon
himself.
The lesson for us today is that if
God wants you to do something, He will help you. He won't leave you
in the dark to fend for yourself. No, He will help you and guide
you. All you need to do is to listen to His Voice and be obedient
to His calling by being available to be used. Some resistance may
come if you are flowing in His will, but He will help you through
it. Just make sure that the resistance is because you are on the
right path and not because you are on the wrong one.
The problem with us many times is
that we don't make the time to listen and make sure what God wants
us to do. We rush into things and think that we heard from Him, and
when the resistance and closed doors come, we think it is the devil
trying to hinder us. In the mean time we are not on the right path
at all. So first of all make sure that you are on the right path,
and when you are sure that you are, press forward with God by your
side and do what He has placed in your heart. He will help you.
Even if apparent success is not manifesting, press forward, the
breakthrough will come.
I have experienced this with my
books. I have had soooooo much resistance (I can write a whole book
about it), and yet I know that I know that God wants me to
continue. Even if apparent worldly success still evades, I know He
wants me to share His Word to the world. And He makes it possible
for me and shares His heart with me. What more can I want?
Continue with what He has placed in
your heart. Move forward with His help en change your community
right there where you are. He is trustworthy and will help you. He
helped Solomon to build a glorious Temple, are you not worth more
in value to Him?
Father thank you so much that You
help us. We are so grateful. Help us to hear Your voice more
clearly. Help us to be obedient once we do and to press forward,
knowing that a heavenly reward awaits us. We love You and trust You
to know best. Amen