How to live well with God’s generous gifts
1 Kings 10:1-29 Some years ago on holiday, I returned to a church that I had visited before. It drew a lot of young people who enjoyed the upbeat musical worship, which in the past was headed by a talented…
The two sides of Solomon’s reign and its challenge for us
1 Kings 9:1-28 There is a famous optical illusion by W.E. Hill entitled ‘My Wife and My Mother-in-Law’, which depicts a young woman and an old one in the same figure (the young woman’s jawline as she looks right is…
How to gain a true picture of God’s character
1 Kings 8:22-66 In the first few years after coming to faith, my dominant emotion was fear that if I did the wrong thing God would punish me. Fearful by nature, my perceptions were not helped by a church setting…
How to live in God’s rest
1 Kings 8:1-21 The film Finding Nemo recounts the adventures of a young clownfish who is fished out of the sea, ends up in a tank in a dentist’s office in Sydney and manages to escape. At the end of…
A comparison between the tabernacle and Solomon’s temple
Materials and dimensions The main difference between the tabernacle set up by Moses and Solomon’s temple is that the former was a mobile structure, the latter a permanent building. The tabernacle was a tent with a wooden frame covered by…
The difference God’s presence makes
1 Kings 7:1-51 Recently, I visited a beach just south of Christchurch and noticed a ridgeline overlooking the bay that narrowed, then terminated in a steep drop. The villas perched precariously on top stopped abruptly mid-way even though the powerlines…
Temple building: What it takes to know God’s presence
1 Kings 6:1-38 Why do we want God in our life? Why should having God’s presence matter to us? For some, it springs from the desire to have a sense of security or guidance in life, provision, help or blessing.…
- 1 Kings 1-11 (Solomon), Bible reading notes, Kings, Sabbath rest, temple and God's presence, Topical
Rest, temple and fellowship with God
Exod 31:12-17; Deut 12:10-11; Heb 3:7-19; 4:1-11 As Solomon prepares to build the temple, he connects temple building and rest (1 Kings 5:4), a link also made by David earlier (2 Sam 7:1) and mentioned even before Israel entered the…
Healing for our wayward heart
1 Kings 5:1-18 A driver was heading to an important meeting and found the parking lot seemingly full. Fearing that he might be late, he was praying frantically for a space circling around on the lookout for any cars pulling…
How to nurture hope in despair
1 Kings 4:1-34 In the Harry Potter stories, there are hooded shadowy creatures called the Dementors who feed on human happiness and suck joy and hope out of people’s lives. The only defence against them is to think of a…