“Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they are ever praising you.” – Psalm 84:5
We can see in the Living Word that how God had lifted Solomon as king over Israel. Let us see some points of his splendor given by God.
Solomon became king: – People of Israel made Solomon King over Israel & anointed him before the Lord to be the leader.
God prospered him: – Then he sat on the throne of the Lord as king & prospered & all Israel obeyed him. (1 Chronicles 29:23)
God exalted him exceedingly: – So the Lord exalted Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and bestowed on him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel. (1 Chronicles 29:24)
God strengthened him: – Now Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him and exalted him exceedingly. (2 Chronicles 1:1)
God gave everything more than one can ask or imagine to King Solomon & God was with him. He did not need anything. But in his good time / in his prosperity, he went with all assembly i.e. captains of thousands & of hundreds, leaders, judges & heads to the high place that was at Gibeon (for the tabernacle of meeting with God was there); to seek God & to offer a thousand burnt offerings on it.
Normally, it is human tendency to meet God when any trouble/problem/need arises. A King who was blessed by God Himself with power, prosperity, favour, strength …. What more does he need…. All riches, fame, power, strength he got which anybody can only dream of. But here, when he was prospered in every way & everything was going well & smooth, Solomon went up on high places to offer God sacrifices with the people of Israel. And then what happens! On same night God appeared to Him in a dream & gave him abundance of wisdom & knowledge with package of riches, wealth & honor, such as none of the kings have had who were before him nor shall any after him had the like.
No matter what is our situation/time, whether high or low, good or bad – it is necessary for us to go up on high place i.e. at the meeting place with God. Even when we are getting success after success in doing His works & in every area of our life. We should not satisfy even if we think that we have grown much, but that is not enough in God’s sight. He wants us to go far beyond what we can ask or imagine as per Ephesians 3:20 – ‘Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.’
But now question will arise if we want to go to high place like Gibeon just the way Solomon did, then where shall we go? And how can we offer a thousand burnt offerings? Now all these things do not exist. Practically how it is possible! Dear Reader, I would like to encourage you that it is possible! Yes practically also! We can make our bedroom or corner of our house a Gibeon – the high place – the tabernacle to meet God to express Him ‘How lovely is Your tabernacle O Lord of hosts’ (Ps.84:1). Jesus made all things easy. Isn’t it exciting to know that, we can meet ‘King of Kings’ without any prior appointment simply at our house? Huh! And what we can offer to Our King? We can offer sacrifices of praise & thanksgiving as offering as author of Hebrew says in 13:15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. Same way, Psalmist says in Psalm 116:17 I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.
It reminded me of the lyrics of a beautiful song.
‘We bring sacrifice of praise,
Unto the house of the Lord,
And we offer unto You,
Sacrifices of thanksgiving,
And we offer unto You,
Sacrifices of praise..’
We are alive & we have entered New Year 2014 by His great mercies & grace alone, let us go to high place to meet God through Jesus & offer sacrifices of thanksgiving & praises for the all wonderful things He has done in our lives.
God bless!
Anjali Jose Benjamin
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