In Solomon’s great prayer of dedication he asked an important question: “Will God indeed dwell on the earth?” (I Kings 8:27). Then he answered his own question, showing that he clearly understood that the Lord is no local tribal deity: “Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built!” (I Kings 8:27).

The main theme of his prayer is God’s graciousness, offered in the face of human sin, aiming at forgiveness. “Hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place; O hear in heaven your dwelling place; heed and forgive” (8:30). Indeed, he echoes that plea another five times in the course of his prayer (8:31-32, 8:33-34, 8:35-36, 8:37-40, 8:46-53).

“If they sin against you – for there is no one who does not sin – and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near; yet if they come to their senses … if they repent with all their heart … listen to their prayer … forgive your people who have sinned against you … for they are your people” (8:46-51).

It is a wonderful heartfelt prayer for the ongoing covenant with the people of God. And, indeed, not just those of us on the inside. Embedded in the midst of this plea, Solomon even includes a plea for outsiders coming from far away to have the same access to God in prayer: “when a foreigner comes and prays toward this house, then hear in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name” (8:42-43).

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You are mighty and glorious, O Lord, uncontainable, greater than all the universe: yet you stoop to us in all our frailty and lostness, in all the variety of our sin, whether we come from near or far. We pray for your merciful grace to forgive us, and for your transforming grace to establish us again as your people.