Focus

Let your soul take a moment of rest as you hear God’s word. Put your busy schedule, wandering mind, stressful thoughts, and burdened heart at the feet of the cross and open up to God’s voice as the Giver of Life tends your soul.

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Read

2 Chronicles 5:2-14 (NRSV)

Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the ancestral houses of the people of Israel, in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion. And all the Israelites assembled before the king at the festival that is in the seventh month. And all the elders of Israel came, and the Levites carried the ark. So they brought up the ark, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up. King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be numbered or counted. Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the most holy place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering above the ark and its poles. The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside; they are there to this day. There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that Moses put there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the people of Israel after they came out of Egypt.

Now when the priests came out of the holy place (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, without regard to their divisions), all the levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, their sons and kindred, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar with one hundred twenty priests who were trumpeters. It was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the LORD, and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the LORD,

“For he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever,”

the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.

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Reflect

Much of the Old Testament seems unintelligible to the casual reader. We wonder why all the old laws are even in the Bible; we are inclined to skip over the detailed information about building the “tent of meeting” during the wilderness wanderings and later the Temple in Jerusalem. Yet these structures were essential reminders of the presence of God in all of Israel’s existence.

In today’s reading, construction of the Temple had been completed. It was time to transport the Ark of the Covenant to its new location. Elaborate preparations were carried out, and the dedication ceremony proceeded as planned. “For [God] is good, for [God’s] steadfast love endures forever.”

Chronicles reminds us that God expects the best that we have. No other offering is appropriate and may even be rejected, if we are to take literally the rules laid out in the law. Think over the importance of God’s presence in your life and in the world. What is the best that you can give God? What are you giving?

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Pray

We praise you, O God, for your everlasting love and faithfulness. You give and forgive your people freely and continually. Strengthen us to give you the best that we have, even our lives. Amen.

Go with God.