Good Ol' Solomon

This morning in my time with God, I was hit with something that I think is going to be revolutionary in my life.  At least, I hope it will be.

I don't usually share what I'm learning on here because - well - most of the things God is teaching me seems to be specifically for me.  Or they're too personal to put "out there".  Or I want to and never get around to it.

Anyway, I hope that what I'm about to share makes sense and that you might be encouraged by it.  Mostly, I just want this moment's idea to be ingrained in my brain and my heart.  If you're still reading this rambling, come join me on a trip to King Solomon's time - - - - - and wear your seat belts because it's quite a journey!

I have been reading through the 1's and 2's for a while now - you know, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, etc.  This morning I read in 1 Kings about Solomon building the temple for God.  Finally, after how many years, God's temple became a reality!  I've read this passage of Scripture before but always skipped over it because it gets kind of repetitive with measurements of cubits.  I am not a numbers sort of girl when it's measurements I understand let alone something of a cubit!

What I got out of reading through these couple of chapters is how absolutely beautiful Solomon built the temple.  Gold covered pretty much everything.  Pure, refined gold.  The details were exquisite.  I think of how God's presence dwelt there and then how He came and lived next to us, still perfect in a messy world.  He set aside His full glory for a time to be the Messiah we all needed - and many still need today.  He was Immanuel - God with us.

Now, for those of us who believe in Christ and have accepted Him as our Lord, He dwells within us.  God lives in me - one of the messiest of people, whose sin nature makes this world a messy place to be.  As thankful as I am that this is true, I am quick to forget that He hasn't set aside His glory this time - His Spirit is in His fullness in me!  How quick I am to cover Him up with my pride and insecurities.  I wrote these things in my journal - - - forgive me if they're not the most eloquent.  Here are two ideas going through this crazy brain:

1)  If I am now God's temple, I should be paying very close attention and detail to how I'm "decorating" His courts.  Are they filled with disbelief, mistrust and insecurity?  If so, I need to put them in the fire and refine them until they're as pure as gold!
2)  I think there's a fine line in being the weaklings that we are.  What I mean is, there's a glorious beauty in the God of the universe wanting to live in us but I think we far too often stop there and don't move forward in that.  While we don't need to dress ourselves up for Him to love us, we do owe Him a place of honor.

All of this to say that I know I get comfy in my weaknesses and end up using them as excuses to not be bold and to live with the power of Christ in me.  I end up squelching His power and His glory because it's scary to me.  This is why I struggle to move forward in faith sometimes.  I don't embrace what He has to offer fully and completely!

I prayed this morning that this insight into this passage would be life changing for me; that I will tear down my messy walls and begin to cover them in gold.  I know it will take a long time - it took Solomon 7 years working with materials that didn't have a sin nature and baggage!  The work is worth it though.  I want to give God a glorious temple to live in.