Solomon completed the building of the temple (II Chronicles 5:1), and the Ark of the Covenant was then brought into the temple, with all due ceremony, and with so many sacrificial animals that they could not be counted (5:6) And the music! Accompanied by the trumpeters and cymbalists, the vocalists sang out with loud praise to the Lord, “for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever” (5:13), and the house of the Lord was filled with the cloud of the glory of God (5:14).

Solomon offered an extensive prayer to dedicate the temple to God’s service (6:12-42). He noted God’s faithfulness: the promise to Solomon’s father David had been fulfilled, and Solomon prayed that it would continue to be fulfilled in succeeding generations. (We should notice that the Chronicler gave us this line from Solomon’s prayer without commentary, even though the Chronicler knew that the promise would soon be broken by the rebellion of Jeroboam in the following generation.)

Solomon himself reckoned with the possibility that future generations might have trouble, and prayed for their forgiveness: “When your people Israel, having sinned against you, are defeated before an enemy but turn again to you, confess your name, pray and plead with you in this house, may you hear from heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land that you gave to them and to their ancestors” (6:24-25).

And God answered Solomon with these famous words: “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (7:14). This is a verse that we would all do well to memorize.

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Let us humble ourselves before you, O Lord; let us pray and seek your face, turning from all our self-centered and self-justifying ways: for we need forgiveness, and our land needs healing.