build your house upon the rock

The other evening, during a bedtime scripture reading, Clay read this passage out of 2 Chronicles:

"Then said Solomon, The Lord hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.

But I have built an house of habitation for thee, and a place for thy dwelling for ever.

And the king turned his face, and blessed the whole congregation of Israel: and all the congregation of Israel stood.... "

-- 2 Chronicles 6:1-3

In verse 13 it states that Solomon had a scaffold set in the midst of the court and on that he:
"kneeled down upon his knees before all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven."
  
(wish a few more kings would do that!)

It then goes on to say:

"But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built!

Have respect therefore to the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry and the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee:

That thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon the place whereof thou hast said that thou wouldest put thy name there; to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant prayeth toward this place.

Hearken therefore unto the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, which they shall make toward this place: hear thou from thy dwelling place, even from heaven; and when thou hearest, forgive."

-- 2 Chronicles 6:18-21 (emphasis mine)

I would encourage you to read the chapter in its entirety. There was a lot of depth there.

While I lay there listening to this passage being read aloud, it struck me what an amazingly huge difference this building process was from the Tower of Babel:

"And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do."

-- Genesis 11:4-6

I guess the moral of the story is...."So build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ!"

As a young mother and home-maker I was convicted. The 2 Chronicles passage above comes after three chapters of descriptions of intricate and ornate preparations and architectural design for the temple. God loves beauty. And he loves when we create breath-takingly beautiful things. For Him. But when we construct things on our own steam, with our own sense of pride and power and vanity he confounds all our fool plans. 

Who am I working for in the building of our home? Do I seek self-satisfaction in my home decorations and organizations? Do I seek the compliments of others in striving to have a well-run home and well-behaved children? Or am I doing the good work of trying to make my home and family beautiful in order to reflect God's beauty and blessings?