1 Kings 6:1-10: a reflection

1In the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the LORD’s house. 2The house which King Solomon built for the LORD had a length of sixty cubits, and its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits. 3The porch in front of the temple of the house had a length of twenty cubits, which was along the width of the house. Ten cubits was its width in front of the house. 4He made windows of fixed lattice work for the house. 5Against the wall of the house, he built floors all around, against the walls of the house all around, both of the temple and of the inner sanctuary; and he made side rooms all around. 6The lowest floor was five cubits wide, and the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for on the outside he made offsets in the wall of the house all around, that the beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house. 7The house, when it was under construction, was built of stone prepared at the quarry; and no hammer or ax or any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was under construction. 8The door for the middle side rooms was in the right side of the house. They went up by winding stairs into the middle floor, and out of the middle into the third. 9So he built the house and finished it; and he covered the house with beams and planks of cedar. 10He built the floors all along the house, each five cubits high; and they rested on the house with timbers of cedar.

As Solomon builds the temple, one detail stands out amid all the measurements: The house, when it was under construction, was built of stone prepared at the quarry; and no hammer or axe or any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built. The stones were shaped and finished elsewhere, at the quarry, and brought to the temple site ready to be set in place. And so the great house of God rose in silence, without the noise of hammer and chisel.

Notice how the temple was built: the shaping happened away from the site, so that the building itself rose quietly, without noise. All the hard work of cutting and shaping the stones, the noisy, laborious preparation, was done at the quarry, out of sight; and by the time the stones reached the temple, they were ready to be laid in their place. The visible building came together in silence, because the shaping had been done beforehand.

That is a picture of how God often works in shaping us. Much of God's work of preparing us for our place in his purposes happens quietly, away from view, in the hidden quarry of our ordinary lives, through the slow, often unseen shaping of our character over time. We may not always see the building rising, but the shaping is going on, so that in time we are made ready for the place God has for us. Do not despise the quiet, hidden shaping God is doing in you, often through unremarkable, difficult, unseen work. He is preparing you, like a stone in the quarry, for your place in his building. Trust the quiet work God does in the hidden places of your life; it is shaping you for the purpose he has, though the building may rise in silence.

Lord, Solomon's temple was built of stones shaped at the quarry, so that the great house rose in silence, without the noise of hammer and chisel; all the hard work of cutting and shaping was done away from the site. Help me see in that a picture of how you shape me. Much of your work of preparing me for my place in your purposes happens quietly, away from view, in the hidden quarry of my ordinary life, through the slow, often unseen shaping of my character over time. I may not always see the building rising, but the shaping is going on, so that in time I am made ready for the place you have for me. Keep me from despising the quiet, hidden shaping you are doing in me, often through unremarkable, difficult, unseen work. You are preparing me, like a stone in the quarry, for my place in your building. Help me trust the quiet work you do in the hidden places of my life, and yield to your shaping.