Coming Clean

Talking to God this morning about myself and about people. Shedding some tears and bearing my soul. Some of the tears are for the people and some are just tears because I doubt that God is listening in the way I want Him to.

Ever been there?

I know God hears and I also know enough theology to understand some things about sovereignty and holiness. I can quote Bible verses at God like I sometimes do to people. I know He is listening because my life is hidden in Christ who Is in God. Christ is seated at God's right hand in Heaven as we speak so I know I have an audience. Yet...

This closeness reveals my depravity. I am undone in the presence of holiness. I weep because I sometimes feel like a dirty fraud. I weep for myself and then repent because I am so selfish.

"Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem." - 2 Chronicles 1:14 ESV

"Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity... I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind... Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun." - Ecclesiastes 1:2, 14, 2:11 ESV

God came through for Solomon and Israel in so many ways. The land was prospering and so was Solomon. Solomon was a powerful, rich and wise man. But he was miserable at this stage of his life.

You can say that Solomon was saying that believing God has value and Earthly accomplishments are vain. You can make him sound spiritual if you want to but I think he is just miserable because God isn't blessing the work of 'his' hands. Solomon is blessed because of Abraham. Isaac and David his father and not because of Solomon.

Solomon had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen in his little nation the size of New Jersey. He was a powerful man that could direct that power but it wasn't ever going to be about him and his plan.

"He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and did not wholly follow the LORD, as David his father had done." - 1 Kings 11:3-6 ESV

Idolatry is when we look for Gods that will bless our plans.

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ" - Ephesians 1:2-9 ESV

Yes. Knowing this I become a spiritual optimist.

Tears of frustration become tears of joy.

God isn't going to bless the people I'm praying for based on me. They need work, comfort, companionship and hope and I can move my Earthly chariots (if I have them) in positions to defend them but the bottom line is that God must come through for them and in a very real way He already has. He came through long before we were born. That victory was revealed Easter morning when a man rose from the grave.

That victory can be manifested in our moments. That is what I find myself asking for.

I pray a 'grace be unto you and peace' prayer based on the risen Son... not based on myself. I start with myself sometimes but God shifts me to Jesus. I realize that the only reason I even care is because He cares and Is moving me to pray and weep.

I come clean about my selfishness and God cleanses me with His grace and mercy.

God has covered me with His robe of righteousness. My tears are dry.

Thank you God... a thousand times over... 'Thank You.'

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David's Plan But Solomon's Temple

I often think of King David's desiring to build a temple for God.

"Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. But the LORD said to David my father, 'Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. Nevertheless, it is not you who shall build the house, but your son who shall be born to you shall build the house for my name.'" - 2 Chronicles 6:7-9 ESV

"Then David gave Solomon his son the plan of the vestibule of the temple, and of its houses, its treasuries, its upper rooms, and its inner chambers, and of the room for the mercy seat; and the plan of all that he had in mind for the courts of the house of the LORD, all the surrounding chambers, the treasuries of the house of God, and the treasuries for dedicated gifts; for the divisions of the priests and of the Levites, and all the work of the service in the house of the LORD; for all the vessels for the service in the house of the LORD, the weight of gold for all golden vessels for each service, the weight of silver vessels for each service, the weight of the golden lampstands and their lamps, the weight of gold for each lampstand and its lamps, the weight of silver for a lampstand and its lamps, according to the use of each lampstand in the service, the weight of gold for each table for the showbread, the silver for the silver tables, and pure gold for the forks, the basins and the cups; for the golden bowls and the weight of each; for the silver bowls and the weight of each; for the altar of incense made of refined gold, and its weight; also his plan for the golden chariot of the cherubim that spread their wings and covered the ark of the covenant of the LORD. All this he made clear to me in writing from the hand of the LORD, all the work to be done according to the plan." - 1 Chronicles 28:11-19 ESV

All of 2 Chronicles chapters 2 through 4 talk about the process involved with building the temple.

"Thus all the work that Solomon did for the house of the LORD was finished. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, and stored the silver, the gold, and all the vessels in the treasuries of the house of God." - 2 Chronicles 5:1 ESV

There was great planning and attention to detail... tender loving care and dealings with people... King Hiram of Tyre supplied the wood needed... He has supplied materials for David's house and now he would deal with his son.

"But God said to me, 'You may not build a house for my name, for you are a man of war and have shed blood.' ... And of all my sons (for the LORD has given me many sons) he has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel." - 1 Chronicles 28:3, 5 ESV

We often feel that the warfare has disqualified us. We have desires to see God glorified and draw up plans to make it so. We want Him living close by in a house made by our hands.

In this instance we could say that Solomon was a picture of the new testament believer and David a picture of our natural man. Solomon had the genetic makeup of his father but where David was able to nothing but plan... Solomon had access to materials to built the temple.

Solomon is also a type of Christ Himself. This king full of wisdom.

Joseph, also a type of Christ, had no sins recorded in the scriptures. But, In many way Solomon is like us with times of darkness and disillusionment.

"Simon Peter replied, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' ... And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."" - Matthew 16:16, 18-19 ESV

Peter's confession of Christ's identity was the rock that God would build His church upon and yet the ability to bind and loose is given to us. We can say what is said in Heaven declaring what Heaven permits and restricts and Christ builds His church.

He gathers His gold and cedar from the gentile nations. People are His dwelling place and His resource at the same time.

We can live like Solomon when he wrote Ecclesiastes, a natural man full of failure and dark perspective, or we can live like a Solomon writing his great song, as a person full of faith, love and connection.

Today I will be gathering gold for God's house. Revealing Christ's identity and watching Him build the thing that has become my heart's desire... a resting place for God in people and a place where people can rest in God.

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