ANSWERED PRAYERS

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

When Solomon had finished building the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do, the Lord appeared to him a second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon. The Lord said to him:

"I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.”

1 Kings 9:1-3

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The temple construction was complete and it was properly dedicated by Solomon and the people of Israel who culminated the event with a fourteen day celebration after which all the people returned home with joyful, glad hearts focused on all the good things God had done.

As Chapter 9 opens, we find Solomon in this time, after he had “finished building the temple of the Lord and the royal palace”…after “he had achieved all he had desired to do”. It was a time of relative quiet and solitude compared to the busy preparation and execution of the dedication ceremony and the joyous nature of the 14 day festival.

But as we see in our scripture, Solomon was not alone. In fact, he was never really alone…and neither are we at any time in our life either. Because the Lord was with Solomon…just as He is with us.

So in the framework of that presence of God, we read where the Lord appeared to Solomon and scripture makes it a point to remind us that this wasn’t the first time this happened.

You’ll recall that Solomon was visited by God in a dream at Gibeon and in that meeting, God gave Solomon one single command:

“Ask for whatever you want me to give you” . (1 Kings 3:5)

God had opened up the options for Solomon to ask for anything he wanted. And do you remember what Solomon asked for?

He asked for a “discerning heart” to oven God’s people and “distinguish between right and wrong”. (1 Kings 3:9)

And God answered that prayer, giving Solomon a “wise, discerning heart” (1 Kings 3:12), as well as “riches and honor” so that in Solomon’s lifetime he would have “no equal among kings”. (1 Kings 3:13)

So what would happen in the second meeting between Solomon and the Lord?

We see where once again, God responds to Solomon’s request and fulfills it, except this time the response comes in the form of answered prayer.

Let’s look at how God’s words validated this in verse 3.

1. God heard Solomon’s prayer and plea.

"I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me…”

Going back to Chapter 8, you’ll remember that Solomon asked God to hear either his pleas or the pleas of his people twelve times. In one of these, Solomon asked the Lord to “hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant is praying in Your presence this day…”

And so when the Lord tells Solomon, “I have heard the prayer and plea you made before me…”, He is essentially saying, “I have answered your prayer”.

2. The Lord committed His eyes and heart to the temple…always.

“I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.”

Back to Chapter 8. Right after Solomon asks that the Lord hear his prayer and plea, he hopes that the Lord’s eyes would be opened toward the temple night and day…toward the place that the Lord had said “My Name shall be there”. (1 Kings 8:29)

And so how did the Lord respond to that hope?

By vowing that His eyes and heart would always be in the temple…the temple built by Solomon which He consecrated…the temple that had been dedicated to His Name which would always be there…just as His eyes and heart would be.

So two hopes and prayers of Solomon. Two responses by God, honoring Solomon’s requests.

Indeed, God does answer prayers.

Friends, does this scripture not validate what we should already know…that we serve a God who listens and responds to our requests in accordance with His will?

Yet, how often do we feel forsaken…like we serve a God who just ignores us? We want God to act as soon as we have an issue…like He is a fast-food God who is only there to take our orders and fill them in short order. And when He doesn’t seem to act as expeditiously as we like, then we have a tendency to just give up. In the worse cases, people will completely abandon God in their life and stop praying period, adopting the attitude that prayer doesn’t work because God isn’t listening.

Today’s passage should serve to renew our hope in the Lord and His handling of our petitions. For God does answer prayers. He did back in Solomon’s day and He’s still doing it today. We need only remain patience and trust that God will work His good at the appointed time. Because He and He alone knows what is best...both now and in the future.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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