1 Kings 8

The image of God that is relayed through scripture is a God who personally interacts with the people of this world and interjects in history repeatedly. This is something that we tend to forget more than any one other thing in our day to day lives. Talking to God seems to elude our thoughts. And surely asking God to guide our actions is impractical and inefficient. As Solomon spoke with the Lord and asked for wisdom and guidance, God gave it to him. In 1 Kings 8 Solomon recalls just how incredible it was to see the glory of God played out in his life even though he, and everyone else, sins against God daily. The personal interaction between Solomon and his God became something that Solomon felt he needed to share with the world; he needed to express to all people the opportunity that they have to enjoy the same personal interaction with the same gloriously gracious God.

1 Kings 8:46 reminds New Testament readers of Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. . ." Solomon understood one of the basic theological tenets of God; not a single person gets away with claiming that they have not sinned. Solomon says that "there is no man who does not sin."

As the chapter continues, v. 47-50 reveal the second part of Romans 3:23 ". . .but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus." Solomon writes that when people sin, or do anything that is outside of the character of God (which is to say, perfection), they are taken away to the land of the enemy and held captive. The enemy in this case is everything that is the opposite of God and His character. They are held captive by their own flesh and sin, by others who are buying into a life separated from God and also by God's literal enemy: Satan. But Solomon does not stop there, he continues on to say that if those who have been placed in captivity, where every one of us is before coming to know the Lord, take thought of why they are in captivity and turn back to God and say "we need your help, we aren't perfect and could never do anything that would bring us even remotely close to being perfect like you" then God will forgive and restore them. Forgive them of what? Because God is perfect and we are not, we need to be restored to perfection to be able to relate to Him. Any imperfection is sin. For God to forgive us is for God to restore us. Solomon says that God will not only forgive their transgression, but he will also change their character to allow them to have compassion on those that are still in captivity and compassion on those who are leading others to captivity. This is the same way with us, we not only get the blessing of being forgiven and restored, we also get to be refined in such a way that makes us one step closer to living out our new identity; perfect persons.

Solomon, in verse 56 praises God (remember, this is a prayer) for being immutable and never failing to do what He has promised. Solomon understands that when God promises something, like that He will forgive those that incline their hearts towards Him, He holds to that. Directly after this in verse 58 Solomon shows us that it is impossible for us to incline our own hearts towards God. To incline our hearts towards God means to live out faith in God. In this prayer, He is asking God to help us incline our hearts towards Him; a confession that states that Solomon could not do it himself. This reminds us of Jeremiah 17:9 where it says "The heart is deceitful above all else . . .no man can heal the heart." It is God who heals the sick and darkened heart, not us. We are absolutely incapable of doing this on our own. This reminds us of the words of Paul, "You are saved by faith, not by works", and of John "To as many as received [Christ] He gave the right to become Children of God." It is God who saves us and

Many claim that the Old Testament is full of books that never show the gracious God who forgives through faith and not through works. 1 Kings 8 throws that theory out the window. The God of the Old Testament, the God of Solomon, is the same God that sent His only son to be the propitiation for our sin. We have it much easier than Solomon did, but God never changed His strategy. The law was put in place to show us how far we fall short of God's glory, not to show us what we must do to be a redeemed sinner. Solomon understood that and Jesus preached that.

To have a personal interaction with God means that we need to come before god with a broken and contrite heart that is willing to throw itself at His feet and ask for help. Our prayer should be that God will help us love Him better. Our prayer should be that God will help us continually come before Him with an attitude of dependence and not independence. Our prayer should be full of thankfulness that even though we were enemies of God, Christ died for us. Solomon knew that even though he and his people were enemies of God, they still needed God's compassion, mercy and love to supply them with the ability to love Him and turn back to Him.

Jesus Christ is the complete representation of God's compassion, love and mercy. Solomon saw these truths radiating from the throne, we see these truths beaten and hung on a cross.

He died so that those in captivity could be set free.