Scripture Daily

Context No. 1495 of 4322 · 1 Kings

Context · Reflection

1 Kings 8:61-66: in context

61“Let your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as it is today.” 62The king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the LORD. 63Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the LORD, twenty two thousand head of cattle and one hundred twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the LORD’s house. 64The same day the king made the middle of the court holy that was before the LORD’s house; for there he offered the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar that was before the LORD was too little to receive the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings. 65So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt, before the LORD our God, seven days and seven more days, even fourteen days. 66On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad in their hearts for all the goodness that the LORD had shown to David his servant, and to Israel his people.

The dedication of the temple comes to its close. Solomon charges the people, let your heart be wholly true to the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes. Then the king and all Israel offer an immense sacrifice, and hold a great feast before the LORD for fourteen days, a vast assembly gathered from the far borders of the land. And on the last day Solomon sends the people home; and they go, the text says, joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness the LORD had shown to David his servant and to Israel his people.

The note on which the whole great occasion ends is worth catching: the people went home joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness the LORD had shown. They had gathered to dedicate the temple, to worship, to encounter God together, and they went away glad, their hearts full of gratitude for God's goodness. That is the fruit of true worship: not a grim duty discharged, but a heart sent home rejoicing in the goodness of God. When worship is real, when we genuinely encounter God and remember his goodness, the result is joy, a gladness of heart that overflows into the rest of life. There is a gentle test in this for our own worship. It is possible to go through the forms of worship and come away unchanged, dutiful but not glad, having performed a religious obligation without any real gladness of heart. But worship as it is meant to be, a genuine remembering of God's goodness in his presence, sends people home as it sent Israel home, joyful and glad. The measure is not the grandeur of the occasion but the gladness it produces; Israel's fourteen-day feast was great, but what the text lingers on is the glad hearts of the people going home. Worship that truly recalls the goodness of God cannot help but produce joy. If our worship leaves us only dutiful and never glad, it may be that we have gone through the forms without remembering, as Israel did that day, all the goodness the LORD has shown.

Does my worship send me away joyful and glad of heart, overflowing with gratitude for God's goodness, as Israel went home from the temple, or do I go through the forms dutifully and come away unchanged, having performed an obligation without any real gladness?

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