Scripture Daily

Context No. 2277 of 4322 · 2 Chronicles

Context · Reflection

2 Chronicles 6:16-21: in context

16“Now therefore, LORD, the God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, ‘There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children take heed to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.’ 17Now therefore, LORD, the God of Israel, let your word be verified, which you spoke to your servant David. 18“But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house which I have built! 19Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant and to his supplication, LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you; 20that your eyes may be open toward this house day and night, even toward the place where you have said that you would put your name, to listen to the prayer which your servant will pray toward this place. 21Listen to the petitions of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Yes, hear from your dwelling place, even from heaven; and when you hear, forgive.

At the dedication of the temple he has built, Solomon prays, and in the midst of his prayer he is struck by a wonder. Will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? he asks. Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! And yet, marveling at the impossibility, Solomon asks God to hear the prayers offered toward this house, to have his eyes open toward it, to listen and, when he hears, to forgive. The infinite God, whom the heavens cannot contain, is asked to attend to the prayers of his people.

Solomon's wonder is worth sharing: will God indeed dwell with men, when heaven itself cannot contain him? He is overwhelmed by the disproportion. God is infinite, beyond the reach of the highest heavens, too great for the universe to hold; and yet Solomon asks this God to attend to a house made by human hands, to hear the prayers of small and finite people. That the God whom the heavens cannot contain would stoop to dwell with his people and to hear their prayers is a wonder that fills Solomon with awe. And it is a wonder we do well to feel. This wonder should shape how we pray. We come to God in prayer, and we can grow so used to it that we forget the wonder of it: that the infinite God, too great for the heavens to contain, attends to us, hears our prayers, inclines his ear to our cries. Who is like the LORD our God, the psalmist marvels, who is seated on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? The transcendent God stoops to hear us; the God whom the universe cannot hold attends to the prayers of his creatures. This is a wonder that should fill our praying with both awe and confidence. Awe, because the God we address is infinite, beyond all our comprehension, too great for the heavens to contain. And confidence, because this same infinite God stoops to hear us, attends to our prayers, inclines his ear to our cries. Heaven is my throne, God says, and the earth my footstool; but to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite in spirit. The high and lofty God attends to the lowly who call on him. This calls us to pray with wonder, awe, and confidence. Solomon marveled that the God whom heaven cannot contain would hear the prayers offered toward the temple; and we do well to feel the same wonder that the infinite God attends to us. When we pray, we address the God too great for the universe to hold, and yet the God who stoops to hear us, whose eyes are open and whose ears attend to our cries. Let us pray, then, with the awe that the greatness of God demands, and the confidence that his stooping to hear us gives, marveling with Solomon that the God whom heaven cannot contain would attend to the prayers of his people, and drawing near to the transcendent God who stoops to hear us.

When I pray, have I grown so used to it that I forget the wonder that the infinite God, too great for the highest heavens to contain, attends to my prayers and inclines his ear to my cries, and can Solomon's marvel, will God indeed dwell with men when heaven cannot contain him, together with the truth that the God seated on high stoops to hear the lowly, fill my praying with both awe at the greatness of the God I address and confidence that this same God stoops to hear me?

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