WHERE SHOULD WE LIFT OUR 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.

"But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain You. How much less this temple I have built!

Yet give attention to Your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy, O Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant is praying in Your presence this day. May Your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which You said, 'My Name shall be there,' so that You will hear the prayer Your servant prays toward this place.

Hear the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and when You hear, forgive.”

1 Kings 8:1-27-30

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

As Solomon dedicated the temple, we observed yesterday how he first came to the altar before the assembly of Israel before he lifted up his hands to the Lord and proclaimed that there was no god like the one true God of Israel…the Maker of heaven and earth…the God who kept a covenant love with His people while fulfilling the promises He made.

Continuing in our study of the dedication, we see Solomon further expound on the God that had no equal. For we read the following words:

"But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain You. How much less this temple I have built!”

So what is Solomon saying?

That God, who promised to dwell in the temple of His people, was never going to be contained just there…ever. No…the God of the universe cannot be contained in any man-made structure. For scripture tells us that “even the highest heaven” cannot contain Him let alone any place man might build…even the temple constructed by Solomon and his people.

What does this say about God?

He is omnipresent. In other words, He is everywhere.

Friends, this is critical as we read the remainder of Solomon’s words in today’s passage regarding prayer…prayers that are lifted up to God…a God who is everywhere.

Note where Solomon petitions God to treat the prayers of the people in certain specific ways. Let’s look at them.

First, Solomon asks that the Lord “give attention to Your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy”.

When one cries out to the Lord in prayer, one wishes that those prayers are first finding God and then receiving His attention. Since God is omnipresent…in all places…then the question of whether our prayers reach Him is a mute point. Know that they indeed reach Him every time. But the matter of Him granting attention to prayer is another matter all together.

For we have seen in the Old Testament numerous times up to this point that when God’s chosen people decided to be disobedient and turn away from God, He would often not answer their prayers when they found themselves in the midst of consequence. It wasn’t that God wasn’t present. It was just that He chose to not give attention to the prayers of His disobedient people until the time when He so deemed to restore them.

So Solomon, in asking God to grant attention to his prayers and the prayers of his people, sought for the ever-present God to be ever-attentive to the needs of His people as well. And God was…as long as His people followed His will and way.

Next, we find Solomon asking God to “hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant is praying in Your presence this day”.

Once the omnipresent God of all things turned His attention to the prayers of His people, Solomon knew it was important for God to listen to those prayers…to listen to the praises being lifted up to Him and to receive the concerns that were on His people’s hearts.

So what would come after God heard the prayers of His people who had gained His attention?

Well…Solomon hoped that the Lord’s eyes might be opened toward the temple…the place of worship…the place which He said His name would be…not just some of the time but rather night and day…the place where people not only prayed within but prayed toward when they could not physically be there. And after hearing and opening His eyes toward the needs of His people, then God could address their supplication…their earnest and humble pleas toward the omnipotent, omnipresent God who they trusted and believed in.

Friends, the ideal of lifting prayers up to the Lord has been going on since God created mankind. And throughout this time, God has always been everywhere, ready to grant attention to His people’s petitions…ready to hear their pleas…ready to open His eyes to their expressed needs…and ready to provide for those needs in accordance with His will and way.

The good news for today is that God is everywhere. We need not worry where to find Him. For even the highest heaven cannot contain Him…neither can any temple, church, nation, home or heart.

So as we conclude this lesson by looking toward the opening question found in our title, “Where Should We Lift Our Prayers?”, the answer becomes simple as found in the scriptures.

We can lift them everywhere and anywhere we are…because God is right there with us…just as He always has been…and just as He always will be.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

http://www.faithhopeandlove.info/

Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com