Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.”
NL Daily Devotion for Tuesday, October 30, 2018
by Dr. Kimberly Leetch, Clergy Stuff
Today is my 50th birthday. Wow, 50 years goes by fast! This story, on this day, of Solomon’s dedicating the temple to God makes me think of my own life being dedicated to God. It began, of course, with my birth and baptism, when my parents made the commitment to raise me with knowledge and love for the Lord. I think to my confirmation, when I claimed the commitment for myself. I remember my ordination, when I once again committed myself to the Lord’s service. Now, on my 50th, I think toward the next 50 (I’m optimistic!). I wonder when and why I might have other occasions to recommit my life to God. Maybe it will be when I empty nest. Maybe when I meet my first grandchild. Maybe when I bury my parents. There are always opportunities to reflect on my life’s purpose and my place in God’s kingdom. Maybe my 50th birthday is as good a day as any to say once again, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!”
Narrative Lectionary Daily Reading:
1 Kings 8:1-13
Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the ancestral houses of the Israelites, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion. All the people of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the festival in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests carried the ark. So they brought up the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up. King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the most holy place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering above the ark and its poles. The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside; they are there to this day. There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses had placed there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites, when they came out of the land of Egypt. And when the priests came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.
Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.”
Related & Recent Posts
An
Exceptional
People
Blog Posts
SIGN UP NOW