Editor’s Note: The AMI Devotionals from June 15-21 are provided by Doug Tritton of Symphony Church, Boston.
Devotional Thoughts for Today
1 Kings 7:48-51: So Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of the Lord: the golden altar, the golden table for the bread of the Presence, the lampstands of pure gold, five on the south side and five on the north, before the inner sanctuary; the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold; the cups, snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, and fire pans, of pure gold; and the sockets of gold, for the doors of the innermost part of the house, the Most Holy Place, and for the doors of the nave of the temple. Thus all the work that King Solomon did on the house of the Lord was finished. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, the silver, the gold, and the vessels, and stored them in the treasuries of the house of the Lord.
Look at all that gold—the gold altar, golden table, gold lampstands, etc. So much gold was used in the furnishings for the building. Right now, gold trades for about $1200 per ounce, and certainly these furnishings were many, many ounces; so in all likelihood, the furnishings alone were worth perhaps up to a billion dollars in today’s currency. Yet, this was not gold being used for buying and trading, or for strengthening the Kingdom of Israel; it was used purely for the purpose of worship.
This reminds me of the story of Mary, who anointed Jesus’s feet with expensive ointment (see John 12:1-8). Mary could have sold that nard for a good sum of money. Likely, it was a precious possession of hers, to be used at a precious time. But, no, she chose to use it for Jesus, to use it in worship. She valued Jesus over the ointment; He was worth more to her than the ointment.
This challenged me because I can easily get caught up in the need for security, setting boundaries on how much I am willing to give to Jesus, whether it be my time, money, or something else. Yet if Jesus were my treasure above all else, I would gladly give up anything for Him because He would be worth more than anything else. Israel was quite extravagant in giving gold for the Temple furnishings, and Mary was quite extravagant in anointing Jesus with the ointment, but how extravagant am I willing to be for God’s Kingdom? How much am I willing to give?
Reflect today on your own extravagance. Perhaps there has been a nagging feeling in your heart, a feeling that God is calling you to lay something at His feet. Perhaps today is the day to be extravagant and bold for Him.
Prayer: Lord, thank You for Your extravagant love for me. You put up no boundary in coming for me, but rather gave up Your own life on the cross. I pray now against my insecurities, my doubts that hold me back from giving extravagantly to You. Help me to truly value You above all else, for You truly are that pearl of great price. May my whole life be given as worship to You.
Bible Reading for Today: Revelation 7
This story seems to show a lack of spiritual concentration and endurance on the part of Solomon. How true is this in my life! I have spiritual highs, from activities like retreats or mission trips, but then as time goes on, these highs wear off and I fall back into normal, self-centered living. I have made convictions but continue to be someone whose action centers on feeling and circumstance, rather than firm, unwavering beliefs and commitments. We often characterize our spiritual life as sine waves, going up and down, but is that how God wants us to live, tossed by circumstance or feeling?
Finally, Solomon had finished building the Temple, the house for God. It took many years, many resources, and much labor, but it was finally finished. So what does Solomon do? He immediately turns to building his own house, which he works on for thirteen years. Did you catch that contrast? The passage says, “He was seven years in building it. Solomon was building his own house thirteen years.” He spent almost twice as long building his own house!
When I read this passage while writing this devotional, I thought about skipping it. I thought to myself, this does not really show grace. This passage seems to imply that we need to obey God before He comes to us, that we need to earn His presence. But as I reflected on this, I realized, that is certainly not the case.
When I come to these passages that detail the dimensions and specifications of a building or structure (such as the temple, tabernacle, or Noah’s ark), I often skim through them, thinking to myself that this is not important. I want to get to the stories—the commandments, the things that seem to actually matter to me.
As mentioned yesterday, Solomon sought to build a temple for God now that Israel finally was in a state of relative peace. In order to succeed in this task, Solomon needed help, so he asked Hiram, the king of neighboring Tyre. Hiram very willingly agreed to help in this task.
King David’s reign was far from peaceful and he certainly had little time to rest, being constantly harassed by his many enemies. Upon his death, David’s son Solomon inherited a kingdom that finally had attained a fair amount of peace. Yet, rather than just sitting back and relaxing in this time of ease, Solomon set to work building the temple, a task ordained by God.
What is challenging about this passage is that Solomon gave up leisure to focus on building the temple. How difficult that is! So often in my own life, when I find myself in a season of ease and peace, I turn immediately to distractions like Netflix or Hulu, binge-watching shows for hours on end, thinking that I am taking advantage of this extra free time. This is no different than the servant who buried his talent in the ground in the parable of the talents (see Matt. 25:14-30). Periods of ease are gifts from God for the sake of investing into His Kingdom.
The late pastor Adrian Rogers once told the story of a boy who was sitting under an oak tree, looking at a watermelon patch. He said, “You know, if I were God, I wouldn’t put those great big watermelons on those weak little vines, and those tiny little acorns on that big oak tree. That seems backwards to me.” A little while later, an acorn fell and hit him on the head, and suddenly he was glad it wasn’t a watermelon. How great is God’s wisdom even in this comical situation!
While the wisdom of God displayed through Solomon in this story is certainly one to behold, I thought it would be interesting to look at this story from another perspective. Indeed, God is just and in due time, justice will be given to His people, but behind it we also see an important lesson—the light that is shed on darkness.
Have you ever played the ice-breaker game “Desert Island’? In this game, you are trapped on a desert island and need to think of three things that you would want to bring to this island that you will be on for the rest of your life. In a sense, this shows what the desires of our heart truly are. In a way, God asks Solomon this question as well – What would you like me to give you?