I.
WIth this selection of Scripture we will close the four weeks we have spent with Solomon at the dedication of Temple.

We will close by hearing the blessing Solomon pronounces over the people assembled at the Temple.

Take some time today to listen to Solomon. Listen to his blessing over the people. Listen for what in his words draws you near to God. Even what comes to you as blessing.

II.
1 Kings 8:54-61 (New Revised Standard Version)

Now when Solomon finished offering all this prayer and this plea to the Lord, he arose from facing the altar of the Lord, where he had knelt with hands outstretched toward heaven; he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice:

“Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel according to all that he promised; not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke through his servant Moses. The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our ancestors; may he not leave us or abandon us, but incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our ancestors. Let these words of mine, with which I pleaded before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires; so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no other. Therefore devote yourselves completely to the Lord our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.”

III.
He begins with “Blessed be the Lord …” and quickly we hear, “The Lord our God be with us …”

What do you hear him say about God?

What do you hear him ask of God?

What do you hear his ask of the people?

How do his words speak to you today?
Spend some time with those questions and we will get back together later,

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Dues ibi est}