“But can God actually live on the earth?
Why, heaven itself, even the heaven of heavens,
cannot contain you;
so how much less this house I have built?”
-1 Kings 8:27
There’s another important God principle expressed in verse 27 that differs radically from Gentile thought regarding how the spiritual world operated.
Lemme try to explain what I mean.
You know that story Aladdin’s Lamp, don’t you?
It’s about a powerful genie who is trapped inside a lamp and can only emerge when someone rubs it.
The person holding the lamp becomes the Genie’s master.
The Genie is compelled to serve the lamp’s owner.
This pretty well sums up how the pagan world assumed the spirit world of the gods operated.
Well, Solomon spoke directly against this notion.
He understood that even though God’s presence inhabited the Temple, the Lord was not beholden to it.
Again, this was a radical departure from what was accepted in this era in the 10th century B.C.
Homies during this time believed a Temple for a deity was akin to Aladdin’s lamp that imprisoned the genie.
Solomon understood that the Temple was simply a place where worshippers could gather to meet and worship.
The Torah did require a worshipper to visit the Temple for certain festivals.
But otherwise, prayers directed towards the Temple from any location were just as effective as being inside the courtyards themselves.
Ya feeling me here.
So here’s the takeaway coming to me.
This is simply a great reminder of just how unique the Lord we worship is.
The God of Israel is utterly without peer in this world
When you pray to Him for certain things…
He certainly hears you.
But He is not obligated to fulfill your every desire.
Heck, I think it would be dangerous if the Lord fulfilled every desire of my greedy little heart.
Ya feel me?
The bottom line is the Lord is sovereign.
He is nobody’s master and is not beholden to anyone.
I think those prosperity preachers who teach that the Lord is like some Genie who we can just summon up anytime we want to give us wealth and prosperity are no different from the ancient pagans in the Biblical era.
They are preaching a false gospel.
Alrighty, I’ll leave it at that today.
See ya all next time.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“The God who made the world
and everything in it is
Lord of heaven and earth
and does not live in temples
built by hands.
And he is not served by human hands,
as if he needed anything.”
— Acts 17:24–25
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