Readings for today: 1 Kings 7-8, Psalms 11
What does it mean to be in relationship with God? I’ve been helping some people in my life wrestle with this idea lately. We’ve been having lots of conversations about God and what and why to believe. Over and over again, they keep coming back to religion. They talk about God as an abstract, philosophical idea. They talk about codes of ethics. They talk about laws and rules and expectations. And they struggle because they cannot imagine aligning their life along these lines. It feels arbitrary. Coercive. Sometimes even abusive. One of them was at least honest with me and said, “You know I’m pretty much anti-authority, right?”
My response in these conversations is to try to reframe their thinking around relationship. If our connection to God is mediated through religion then I can understand their objections. Why would anyone want to submit their life to a set of rules that limits their freedoms? That doesn’t have much appeal to me either. But what if our connection to God was mediated through a relationship? What if God was good and loving and could be trusted to know what’s best for us? Wouldn’t that change things?
This is the heart behind Solomon’s great prayer of dedication. Yes, there were a lot of rules and rituals associated with Temple worship but at it’s foundation is a covenantal relationship with the Living God. You see this mapped out in the different examples Solomon cites from everyday life when he prays…
“When a man sins against his neighbor and is forced to take an oath, and he comes to take an oath before your altar in this temple, may you hear in heaven and act. May you judge your servants, condemning the wicked man by bringing what he has done on his own head and providing justice for the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness.” (1 Kings 8:31-32 CSB)
“When your people Israel are defeated before an enemy, because they have sinned against you, and they return to you and praise your name, and they pray and plead with you for mercy in this temple, may you hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel. May you restore them to the land you gave their ancestors.” (1 Kings 8:33-34 CSB)
“When the skies are shut and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you, and they pray toward this place and praise your name, and they turn from their sins because you are afflicting them, may you hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and your people Israel, so that you may teach them to walk on the good way. May you send rain on your land that you gave your people for an inheritance.” (1 Kings 8:35-36 CSB)
“When there is famine in the land, when there is pestilence, when there is blight or mildew, locust or grasshopper, when their enemy besieges them in the land and its cities, when there is any plague or illness, every prayer or petition that any person or that all your people Israel may have — they each know their own affliction — as they spread out their hands toward this temple, may you hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and may you forgive, act, and give to everyone according to all their ways, since you know each heart, for you alone know every human heart, so that they may fear you all the days they live on the land you gave our ancestors.” (1 Kings 8:37-40 CSB)
Clearly, Solomon has more in view than just religion here. He believes with His whole heart that God Himself has come to dwell with His people. Come to meet with His people face to face. Come to show His great love to His people in person. It’s a powerful prayer and an even more powerful way to think about faith in God. Faith in God is not a commitment to certain ethical code. It is not a belief in an abstract set of theological principles. It is the most intimate relationship we can have in this life because we are relating to the same God who shaped and formed us in our mother’s wombs. The same God who loved us and called us by name from eternity. The same God who bled and died for us on the cross. The same God who rose again to open the way to heaven. The same God who’s coming again to claim His own, set all things right, and make all things new. This is the God we worship and adore and He invites us into His presence so we can know Him and love Him and worship Him.
Readings for tomorrow: 2 Chronicles 4-7, Psalms 134, 136