(POTB) Prayer Answered by Glory

READ: 1 Kings 8:23-26

Introduction:

This dedicatory prayer of the temple and for divine approval is one of the longest prayers recorded in the Bible. It covers a span of 30 verses.

This beautiful and lofty prayer of Kings Solomon teaches us a few things about Solomon’s belief in prayer.

Divine mercy is sought for the guilty because of God’s special relations with the patriarchs. (1 Kings 8:51-52)

Solomon prays with his hands outstretched toward the Temple or toward heaven, God’s dwelling place. Praying with your hands spread out is a posture that expresses need or help during prayer or as Solomon was making supplication.

This is a common gesture in prayer. If the worshipper was out of Jerusalem he turned toward it when praying (; )

The people responded with “Amen” ()

Solomon kneels to pray () and stands to bless the people (,,)

Public Prayer in the Bible was spoken in a loud voice.

Notice his constant confession of sin. “Confession had to be full for God knows the hearts of all, and confession had to be offered with all the heart.”

Notice the petitions of Solomon - these are heartfelt, serious, and characteristic of a burden bearer.

That God would hear him and that His name should be in the house

That God would condemn the wicked and justify the righteous

That Israel, if smitten before their enemies and repent or confessed their sins, they would be restored.

That if there should be no rain because of the sins of the people, on their confession it should be sent.

That if there should be famine, pestilence, or a foreign invasion, they should be delivered on confession.

That if the stranger should come and pray toward the Temple, he should be heard.

That if they were carried away captive and confessed their sins and returned to Him, he would cause their captors to be merciful unto them.

All of these supplications were answered. I don’t have time to go into each one - but every single supplication was answered by God throughout Israel’s history - some will even be answered in the future.

Don’t underestimate the power, scope, and reach of your supplications.

Dr. David Jeremiah defines supplication this way - to beg favor on the basis of God’s grace.

we are given Solomon’s purpose statement. Solomon’s motivation for praying this way is that the knowledge of God will spread throughout the earth.

“God’s design was for Israel and its king to attract the nations, pointing them to God’s glory.

This should be what we do today - we are a “city on a hill” whose light reflects the glory of God. ()

The prayer of Solomon at the dedication of the temple is the product of inspired wisdom ..., the minuteness of its details, and its abounding possibilities and its urgent necessity. ... National and individual blessings are in it, and temporal and spiritual good is embraced by it. Individual sins, national calamities, sins, sickness, exile, famine, war, pestilence, mildew, drought, insects, damage to crops, whatever affects husbandry, enemies-whatsoever sickness, one’s own sore, one’s own guilt, one’s own sin—one and all are in this prayer, and all are for prayer.

For all these evils prayer is the one universal remedy. ...

Almighty God heard this prayer of Solomon, and committed Himself to undertake, ...

After Solomon had finished his magnificent, illimitable and all-comprehending prayer, this is the record of what God said to him:

  And the Lord said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually

“If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts that they devour the land, or if I send pestilence among the people;

“If my people which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land;

Edward M. Bounds, The Possibilities of Prayer, Previously Published: New York : F.H. Revell, 1923. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1991), 20.

“Now my eyes shall be open, and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.

“For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there forever.”

God put no limitation to His ability to save through true praying. No hopeless conditions, no accumulation of difficulties, and no desperation in distance or circumstance can hinder the success of real prayer. The possibilities of prayer are linked to the infinite rectitude and to the omnipotent power of God. There is nothing too hard for God to do. God is pledged that if we ask, we shall receive. God can withhold nothing from faith and prayer.

“The thing surpasses all my thought,

But faithful is my Lord;

Through unbelief, I stagger not,

For God hath spoke the word.

“Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees,

And looks to that alone;

Laughs at impossibilities,

And cries, ’It shall be done!’“

Charles Wesley