God's Wisdom Toward Gentiles

Scripture: And don’t forget the foreigner who is not a member of your people Israel but has come from a far country because of your reputation. People are going to be attracted here by your great reputation, your wonder-working power, who come to pray at this Temple.
          Listen from your home in heaven.
1 Kings 8:41-43a

Observation: As Solomon is dedicating the temple, asking the Lord to listen to the prayers of the people - whether they be praying to seek the Lord's good favor, or asking for forgiveness when they have gone astray - he adds a desire for the Lord to listen to ... gentiles. Solomon looks forward to the day when other people and other nations will turn to the Lord, desire to honor and know him, seeking his favor and wisdom and love, and Solomon desires that the Lord agree. This blessing, therefore, goes beyond Israel, the priestly nation that has now built this temple, and extends to the entire world.

Application: As a gentile, I am touched by the fact that Solomon, empowered by the Lord's own wisdom and widely considered one of if not the wisest man in history, remembered that we would all desire to be close to the Lord, and would seek a relationship with Yahweh. It is by that open door - the wisdom of the Lord as declared here by Solomon - that I can be confident that the salvation of Jesus was always intended for all people. Yes, it began with the Jews, but we know over and over again that it was to spread to all people and all nations, to the ends of the earth.

And we knew this to be true a thousand years before Jesus, with Solomon declaring the Lord's own wisdom, and declaring the desire that we come to the Lord in prayer.

Prayer: Lord, Abba my father in heaven, may I love you more and more every day, and may I enter into a better relationship with you through improving my prayer life. I do wish to talk to you, confessing for certain, but also seeking, knowing, learning, and just being with you. Thank you for prayer, a way to talk to you. May my prayers rise before you, in your home in heaven, rising like incense before your thrown, a pleasing aroma to you, my Lord. Amen.