David Bahn – Reflections

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These devotions are part of the Follow the Word Bible reading program at St. John Lutheran Church in Cypress, Texas. This year we are reading through the Scriptures together, listening for how God speaks through his Word day by day. I hope you will join me on this journey.

Today’s readings are 1 Kings 8, 2 Chronicles 5-6, Psalm 142.

1 Kings 8:22-30

Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven, ²³ and said, “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart; ²⁴ you have kept with your servant David my father what you declared to him. You spoke with your mouth, and with your hand have fulfilled it this day. ²⁵ Now therefore, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father what you have promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.’ ²⁶ Now therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you have spoken to your servant David my father.

²⁷ “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! ²⁸ Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, ²⁹ that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. ³⁰ And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

When we dedicated the worship center at St. John, we included the Bible verse: “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” Jesus quoted those words when he drove the money changers from the Temple courts. Long before Jesus, Isaiah had spoken them, and even earlier Solomon pointed toward that same truth as he dedicated the Temple: God delights to hear prayer, and his house is to be a place of prayer for all peoples.

That is not a typo. Peoples refers to people groups — unique cultures, languages, ethnicities, and traditions. God is God of all. Throughout the Old Testament, he made himself known through patriarchs, prophets, judges, and kings so that the nations might know him.

Solomon makes that point beautifully in his prayer. He even prays for the foreigner:

“Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for your name’s sake…hear in heaven your dwelling place” (1 Kings 8:41–43).

Surely that helps explain why Jesus was so distressed by the corruption of the Temple courts. The place meant to welcome the nations had become something else entirely.

Solomon also repeatedly prays for God’s forgiveness. Again and again he asks that when people turn to the LORD and cry out to him, he would hear and forgive. And Solomon speaks plainly:

“If they sin against you — for there is no one who does not sin…” (1 Kings 8:46).

We need to hear those words. There is no one who does not sin. Yet there is also no one who turns to God in repentance whom he refuses to forgive.

I sometimes say that we do our good works away from the cross, not toward it. Our good works do not recommend us to God; they flow from the kindness, grace, and love already shown to us in Jesus and are done for the good of our neighbor.

But we come to the cross empty-handed. There we find forgiveness and salvation in Jesus. God hears our prayers for Jesus’ sake and forgives our sins. What a blessing to know that the God who welcomes all peoples also welcomes sinners like us.