1 Kings 8:15-21 - To God be the glory

Scripture:

1 Kings 8:15-21
15 He said, "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth to my father David and has fulfilled it with His hand, saying,
16 'Since the day that I brought My people Israel from Egypt, I did not choose a city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house that My name might be there, but I chose David to be over My people Israel.'
17 "Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
18 "But the Lord said to my father David, 'Because it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was in your heart.
19 'Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who will be born to you, he will build the house for My name.'
20 "Now the Lord has fulfilled His word which He spoke; for I have risen in place of my father David and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
21 "There I have set a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord, which He made with our fathers when He brought them from the land of Egypt."
NASU


Thoughts:

As the temple is dedicated, Solomon reminds himself and the nation of how it came about:  it was by God's hand (verses 15, 20).  God established David as king (verse 16), God told David his son would build the temple (verses 18-19), and God is the reason there even is a temple! (verse 21)  Truly, He did it all.

God seems to delight in revealing what His will is, and then accomplishing it before our eyes.  And He generally does it in such a way that only He can get glory.  But strangely, after it's all over, unlike Solomon does here we can forget Who really accomplished it.  We forget to give Him the praise for what has occurred.  Especially when those around us might be congratulating or expressing gratitude to us, our pride revels in receiving glory for that which we really have no claim.  We take so much of what the Lord does for granted, and over estimate any role that He may have allowed us to play.


Prayer:

Lord, thank You for the times that You have worked so clearly in and sometimes through my life.  What a great God You are to care for me and to use me in the lives of others.

Forgive me for the times I've taken the glory for Your work, if only in my mind.  Truly, all glory belongs to You for anything good that has come in my life.

Amen

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.