2018 Weekly Devotional - Week 29
Week 29
I Kings 8:54-61
“Now as Solomon finished offering all this prayer and plea to the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, where he had knelt with hands outstretched toward heaven. 55 And he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, 56 “Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant. 57 The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us or forsake us, 58 that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers. 59 Let these words of mine, with which I have pleaded before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires, 60 that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no other. 61 Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the Lord our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.”
Westminster Abbey as we know it, today, was built by Henry III, son of King John, and dedicated around 1220 at his second coronation. Henry built it to honor King Edward, known as Edward the Confessor. It was Edward, who was the last of the Saxon kings, who first built the Abbey in 1065. The Abbey itself was founded in 960 and has been the center of the British monarchy ever since. The structure, built in the Gothic style, mimics the great cathedrals of France and is a ‘must see’ destination for visitors to London. If you visit, you will more than likely encounter people from all over the world. Tragically, the Abbey has become more known for all the deceased people buried there than for God’s presence abiding there. The building is seen more as a tourist destination than a great cathedral dedicated to the glory of God.
As Solomon rises from prayer in front of the altar of the great temple he has built, and is in the process of dedicating the temple to the Lord, he begins praising the Lord. Solomon praises the Lord for showing Himself faithful in all that he had declared to David. Then, Solomon does something I find interesting. He asks the Lord to incline his heart and the hearts of the people so that they might be obedient to the Lord. The outcome of their obedience would be a witness to the nations of the world! Their obedience would testify to the exclusivity of the Lord, that there is no other God. It was the actions of God’s people and not the splendor of their buildings that testified to God’s greatness and bore witness of his faithfulness.
As we have the grand opening of our new building next year, let us be steadfast in our proclamation that the Lord is faithful to his word. Let us also strive to demonstrate that the Lord’s faithfulness is not seen in the completion of a building that will one day be a relic, but in the building of the body of Christ. May our new building never be a destination attraction for spiritual tourists but rather a place where Christ-followers are sent to the nations and the majesty of God proclaimed.
In Christ,
John